Kehkashan

One part of my final show installation will be projecting a video montage of my Karachi events on fabric. Why fabric? Because the idea is to convey impressions and an overall feeling of community, people met, and places engaged. It is not to create a documentary on the work. Fabric, flowing and ethereal also creates a dream-like quality and allows people to interfere with the installation as they approach. Most importantly, I saw a projection on fabric at the Amygdala exhibit and it was extremely immersive and eye-catching. It left me wondering what was being shown, and at the same time, feeling like I was a part of those flickering images.

The first question I had was, what type of fabric should I use. As an online student, I’ve become well versed in seeking out answers online and I checked youtube videos and other forums to see how different fabrics accepted projections. I distilled the answer down to organza and chiffon. Organza however seemed a weightier fabric, with a glistening surface, that wouldn’t mesh well with what I was projecting. So I ordered a bundle of chiffon from Pakistan (only because I knew where it could be bought, from there) and made an appointment with HummingTree, a co-working space in Jeddah, to try it out using their projector.

The results were great! I was using a very low quality projector and still the projection appeared clear on one or even two layers of fabric without needing to adjust the contrast or saturation, even if all the lights were switched on. The projection did, however, fall on the wall in the background as well, which means if I drape it in a way that allows people to walk around it, the projection will fall on the people as well…. This is just something I’ll have to tinker with and set up at the final show itself. The video is almost complete, I will play it on a loop using quicktime. And that’s about it!