Projection Mapping Rochester

Projection mapping is the practice of aligning projected light to the actual geometry of a surface, so that every pixel lands where it was designed to land. A flat screen receives an image as-is. A mapped surface gets a custom-built image: corners are warped, edges are masked, and content is drawn to fit the shape in front of it. The result reads as though the building, object or room itself is changing, not as though a picture is playing on it. Lumen and Forge has spent more than 15 years building this work for brands including Nike and Air Jordan, Toyota, McLaren and Mastercard.

Rochester offers no shortage of surfaces worth mapping. The terra cotta and stone facades of the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center and the West Herr Auditorium Theatre suit large-scale building projection. Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre and the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester reward content built around architectural detail, while the Rochester Museum & Science Center and Strasenburgh Planetarium and The Strong National Museum of Play open up object mapping and room-scale environments. Outdoors, Highland Park and Seneca Park Zoo give festival and family audiences a canvas after dark.

Rochester audiences are not easily impressed by scale alone. This is a city that fills Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre for orchestra programs, packs the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester for exhibitions, and turns out year after year for the Rochester International Jazz Festival in June. The same residents who wander the George Eastman Museum and the Rochester Museum & Science Center on a weekend also work in optics, photonics and imaging, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare and medical research. They read an activation the way they read a lab result or a gallery label: closely, and with an eye for whether the thing actually works. A building-sized image that only looks big will get a glance and a phone photo. It will not get a second visit.

The event calendar raises the bar further. The Rochester Lilac Festival in May, the Corn Hill Arts Festival in July, the M&T Bank Clothesline Art Festival in August, the Rochester Fringe Festival in September and Roc Holiday Village from November into December all put a premium on programming that rewards attention. Fringe audiences in particular arrive expecting experimentation and craft, not a looped logo. At the same time, the venues set expectations of their own. Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial and the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center host crowds in the thousands, ESL Ballpark draws families through the summer, and West Herr Auditorium Theatre carries a sense of occasion that a thin visual treatment cannot sustain. Each space asks for content built to its architecture and its sightlines, not a template stretched to fit.

What ties these audiences together is a working familiarity with technology. Rochester's identity in optics and imaging means many attendees understand projection as a discipline, not a novelty. They notice when mapped surfaces align cleanly on a facade, when an object holds its edges as the camera moves, when an interactive installation responds without lag. The Strong National Museum of Play and the surrounding video game and play community bring the same critical eye to interactivity that they bring to game design. Food and beverage brands face a crowd that has seen a great deal of event marketing and can tell a considered experience from a rented one.

Spectacle alone also has to compete with the city's own scenery: the lilacs at Highland Park, the animals at Seneca Park Zoo, the planetarium at the Rochester Museum & Science Center. A brand activation here earns its place by giving people something to do, not just something to look at. That means content with a reason to stay: a sequence that changes, a surface that responds, a story tied to the venue or the season. Higher education audiences and cultural tourism visitors round out the mix, and both reward specificity. In Rochester, the projection is the opening line. The experience behind it is what people remember.

Over 15 years of producing large-scale projection mapping and immersive experiences for globally recognized brands gives Lumen and Forge the operational depth Rochester productions require. Our portfolio includes building projections for Nike and Air Jordan at NBA All-Star Weekend, large-scale convention experiences for Toyota, McLaren, and Mastercard, a world record video game screen at the Tropicana, and the Beneath the Blue 360-degree dome for National Geographic. Our team is comfortable working alongside experienced production crews and holding a technical standard in front of an audience that knows the difference, which is exactly what Rochester requires.

Rochester's event calendar runs from the Lilac Festival in May through Roc Holiday Village in November and December, and the organizations that hire projection mapping here tend to come from a handful of sectors with deep roots in the region. These are the audiences we build for.

• Healthcare and medical research. Health systems, research institutes and their foundation events use building projection to put science in front of the public. A facade can carry imagery and data that a ballroom screen cannot, which suits gala fundraisers, donor evenings and community health campaigns.
• Higher education. Colleges and universities hire us for commencements, reunion weekends, campaign launches and alumni events, projecting onto campus landmarks and staging room-scale environments inside venues such as Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre or the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester.
• Optics, photonics and imaging. The region's imaging and photonics companies and their trade organizations use projection mapping for product reveals, conference openers and booth experiences that show technology in motion rather than on a slide.
• Advanced manufacturing. Manufacturers and their suppliers commission object mapping for dealer meetings, plant anniversaries and trade show builds, turning a physical product or machine into the surface of the story.
• Food and beverage brands. Tasting events, brand launches and festival activations call for projection that draws a crowd and photographs well, from warehouse venues to festival grounds.
• Video games and play. Museums and the gaming community use interactive installations and projection domes to turn play into a shared, physical experience for visitors of all ages.
• Arts and cultural tourism. Cultural institutions and festival organizers hire us for facade projection, immersive gallery environments and seasonal programming that gives visitors a reason to return.