Apparati Effimeri

While most young artists would be happy building a hotel or opera house, Apparati Effimeri aren’t content unless they’re tearing one down. But that’s the benefit of working in architectural mapping and visual design – you can be as creative or destructive as you like, blowing holes in the most beautiful of monuments and then at the end of the night pack up your projector and head home leaving the original building unscathed.

In 2007, Marco Grassivaro and Federico Bigi were working as visual jockeys (projecting often-ignored images onto large screens in nightclubs to accompany DJs’ sets) on Bologna’s underground dance scene. But within a year of working together they’d decided that screens and indeed the walls of nightclubs were too limiting, and they broke free to start a new kind of project where visuals came first and ancient buildings were their canvasses.

Ephemeral job descriptions

Inspired by Baroque artists who used to create temporary decorations for monuments and buildings to celebrate particular events, the duo wanted to recreate the, “movements, sounds, lights and images that were specifically created by great artists to change the city streets for a few days.” In September 2008 they performed their first outdoor architectural mapping projection under the name Apparati Effimeri (ephemeral apparatus) at Bologna’s Festival of Contemporary Art.

Describing what they do to the previously clueless is familiar and tricky ground for them. “It’s a hard question,” says Bigi. “We tell people that we virtually reproduce architecture by collaborating with the art history of the building and projecting onto it in 3D.” While that’s probably the most concise way of putting it, it’s still quite difficult for their mothers to brag about their latest work, so if you’ve never seen architectural mapping take a look at some of the performances on their website, you’ll be quite amazed and probably wonder whether it looks as good live, something Grassivaro is happy to clear up: “They look even better!”

Projecting into the future

While the project began in the humble (though no less critical) circles of digital arts festivals, it wasn’t long before Apparati Effimeri started to receive commissions from big clients and they’ve since staged successful performances for Dunhill and Bacardi, wowing audiences both at home and as far away as Hong Kong. “Working with big brands is very stimulating,” explains Bigi. “Their creative departments often contribute great ideas about the content.” Although the projects are mainly concerned with images, the music that accompanies each projection is another crucial element and the team often enlists the services of Be Invisible Now to provide the soundtracks to their work.

Their latest project was a collaboration for the opera Parsifal, which ran from January to February this year at the Theatre de la Monnaie of Brussels. Apparati Effimeri created a 3D projection that provided depth to the perimeter of the wooden set and enhanced each scene of the opera’s first act. “It was inspiring to work with the event director, Romeo Castellucci,” says Grassivaro. “He took a very experimental approach to the opera and we really felt we could explore our creativity in collaboration with him.”

Each projection takes between one and three months from conception to completion and involves meticulous analysis of the location, although, thanks to advances in technology, the need for on-site rehearsals has decreased, as Grassivaro explains. “We used to have to test each projection many times but now we only need one rehearsal the night before the performance.” And the search for new kit to aid the flow of the creative process is an ongoing affair for the two unashamed technophiles. “We met with a researcher from Bologna University today,” gushes Bigi. “We’re helping them develop some sensors, a touch table and a new screen for controlling the projections.”

For future projects the world and its iconic buildings are Apparati Effimeri’s blank canvas. Perhaps you’d expect two young Italians to want to (virtually) prop the Leaning Tower of Pisa back up, but naturally they wouldn’t dream of anything so boring. “We went travelling in Brazil and there are some amazing structures there,” says Bigi. “Our dream location would be the Unique Hotel in São Paolo. It’s built in the shape of a giant boat.”

apparatieffimeri.com