"The Now" in the Press - October 2018 - February 2019

"THE NOW" at Coolture Impact has been featured on television in Fox 5 and NY1 as well as on the Art press (Untapped Cities, Thought Gallery, Art Zealous) and Technology press (Digital AV magazine, Illumni) in American (News Time, City Guide New York, CT Post, MetroSource, Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time, Hamptons Arts Hub) and Spanish and Latin American Press (Agencia EFE, Caraota Digital, Contacto Hoy, Que Pintamos En El Mundo, Opi97, Impacto Latino...), the newsletters of the Cultural Services of the Spanish Embassy in the USA and the Ramon Llull Insitute for the promotion of Catalan Culture, as a case-study from Leyard, and was included as a workshop on "Engaging Audiences with Immersive Experiences" at the Business, Design & Technology Conference on December 6, 2018 at the Centre for Social Innovation...

The Now at Port Authority Bus Terminal - Outdoor on the South West Corner of 42nd Street with 8th Avenue, New York, NY October 25, 2018 to February 7, 2019 (Running 24/7)


THE NOW - COOLTURE IMPACT on NY1 Noticias, December 18, 2018


THE NOW - COOLTURE IMPACT on FOX5 Good Morning New York, October 25, 2018

READ CASE STUDY FROM LEYARD



DIGITAL AV MAGAZINE: "Coolture Impact: el videoarte interactivo llega a Times Square con la tecnología Led de Leyard
Los miles de visitantes que visitan este dinámico espacio de Nueva York forman ahora parte activa de las historias que se muestran en esta instalación Led interactiva.
Esta docena de ventanas digitales, de 2 metros de altura, muestran imágenes de Laia Cabrera & Co, formada por la cineasta española Laia Cabrera y la animadora francesa Isabelle Duverger.
La primera instalación interactiva en el videowall de Coolture Impact ha sido The Now, de Laia Cabrera & Co, que ofrece un viaje a mundos mágicos, espacios ocultos y entornos participativos con historias animadas, en las que las personas pueden involucrarse con sus movimientos, haciendo avanzar las narraciones a través de la interacción."

UNTAPPED CITIES: "58 NYC Outdoor (and Indoor) Art Installations Not to Miss in November 2018" by Michelle Young 11/01/2018
#5. Port Authority Bus Terminal Video Installation On 42nd Street, off 8th Avenue on the exterior facade of the Port Authority Bus Terminal is an ambitious 2,000 square foot gesture-responsive video installation called “The Now” will be up until November 24th on the Coolture Impact Platform. The work is by artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger in collaboration with interactivity designers NoirFlux and Karan Parik. According to the artists, the work "explores transitory spaces and unseen parallel realities. A time travel cinematic voyage to visually striking places, live painting, animated characters and evolving narratives, as you walk, move and point to the different storylines.”




QUE PINTAMOS EN EL MUNDO: "NEW YORK. Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger “The Now”"
Coolture Impact is the largest interactive public art platform that intertwines reality and fantasy on the windows of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square.
The Now, the first featured art presentation at Coolture Impact, offers a journey into magical worlds, opening doors to hidden places and participatory environments. The Now explores transitory spaces and unseen parallel realities, in a cinematic voyage to visually striking realms, live painting, and animated characters with evolving narratives. Visitors are invited to walk, move and unravel the different storylines.
The Now was created by Laia Cabrera & Co (filmmakers and video artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger) through video art, animation, video mapping and interactivity. Interactivity is provided by designers Lorne Covington and Bill Saiff (NoirFlux) and immersive experience developer Karan Parikh."

HAMPTONS ART HUB: "Holiday-Themed Video Installation at Port Authority Offers a Sprawling Interactive Experience"
"In their current work, The Now - Holiday Special offers visitors the chance to journey into magical worlds, intertwining reality and fantasy, by opening doors to hidden places and participatory environments, all with a holiday Twist."

WORKSHOP "ENGAGING AUDIENCES WITH IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES"
at the Business, Design & Technology Conference on Sustainable Cities: Creating the Cities of Tomorrow, December 6, 2018 at the Centre for Social Innovation, New York, NY. 

Pictures & Press of Self on the Shelf Immersive Interactive Installation

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From left to right: Christine Miele (Curator), Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger (Co-creator of the installation), Nicola Carpeggiani (Interactivity Designer)

Buy our artworks at springbreakartfair.com

Watering the Imagination at the Spring Break Art Show
"Several other exhibitions were visually compelling or inventive, or so fully realized that I couldn’t help but spend the necessary time to suss out their meanings. The show Self on the Shelf was one of those technology-driven extravaganzas, when I touched a black dot on a quotidian furnishing in what was designed to look like a bedroom, the whole scene shifted and music and images wafting across the walls made me feel like by touching the button, I had entered a wormhole."
Seph Rodney for Hyperallergic, March 8, 2018



Our 21 Favorite Moments From SPRING/BREAK Art Show
"This year’s theme, “Stranger Comes to Town,” explores tensions of otherness, through concepts of migration, assimilation, and the nature of belonging.
We’ve selected some of our favorite booths, moments and encounters at this year’s show:
Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger, Self on a Shelf"
Kristina Adduci for Art Zealous, March 7, 2018

 

Spring/Breaking The Art-Fair Scene In NYC
Another unforgettable stop was “Self on the Shelf”, an Immersive Interactive Video Art installation by Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger curated by Christine Miele. For this year’s Spring Break they turned a small boy’s bedroom into “a nightmarish dreamscape in honor of the eponymous elf which has become the symbol of our children’s intimate acceptance of 21st century surveillance realities” as the statement describes.
Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger have a long successful history of transforming spaces with their immersive interactive projection mapping, video art, sound design, illustration and animation, all designed from scratch by them. Their robust career includes theatre scenery, cinema, cultural events and of course, exhibitions, to mention a few. For ‘Self on the Shelf’ they collaborated with interaction designer Nicola Carpeggiani in response to ‘A stranger comes to town’ exploring the conflicts of otherness and the nature of belonging, by bringing the child’s bedroom to life while the space reacts to the visitors’ actions.
Both artists and curator converse with the audience, and explain the piece’s origin as they are all inundated by the ongoing dramatic visual effects transform the space blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Extracted from a 2012 journal entry about Chris’ son and his relationship with James, his first Elf on the Shelf, the concept of this stranger from the North Pole was born.
“Spring Break art show is a very unique art fair in the sense that it is organized around one theme, this year being “Stranger comes to Town” based on the adage “There are only two stories: a hero goes on a journey; a stranger comes to town”. Through the exploration of trust and belief, mystery, and childhood, we wanted to explore the role a stranger may play in conjunction with a power dynamic through the lens of a child. The room, reminiscent of a child’s bedroom, is transported through memories, emotions, and experiences via projected mapping, film, video, sound, animation and visual art.
It’s a spectacle on itself to observe the audience interact with the room, decipher where to touch and observe the visual effects, as well as the story behind them. Children and adults, or artists and the general audience all move around the space with a different approach and reactions. ‘In this context, our site specific installation was very labor intensive once getting into the space, and we’ve worked successfully around the clock to provide the visitors the best experience of our interactive video and sound installation.” Undoubtedly this particular booth is a trip on itself, making the rest of the environment temporarily disappear and becoming a door to an alternate universe.
I leave the fair still believing in the real relevance of art. Thank you Spring Break Art Show for keeping us sane through art-supermart season.
Sara Catalán – The Overart for Hysteriart, March 27, 2018

Self on the Shelf. Immersive Video Art Installation / Spring/Break 2018
Self on the Shelf - Stranger Comes to Town - NYC 2018 at Spring/Break Art Show New York 2018 is an immersive art installation that is based on the children's picture book “Elf on the Shelf”. The artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger, in collaboration with the interaction designer Nicola Carpeggiani, have created a child's bedroom and brought it to life as it responds to a series of clues and prompts, which are given to visitors as they enter the room.
Vernissage TV, New York, March 6, 2018




Politics, Strangers & Art Not to Miss at Spring/Break 2018 
“Self on The Shelf” by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger. Curated by Christine Miele. 

"Self on The Shelf was a distinct departure from the installations and room presentations that dominated the fair. Presenting as a child's bedroom, the work was enlivened through the act of finding and pressing a black button to present a series of changing environment that combined a childlike innocence with adult self-examination that didn't scour. In an unexpected twist, the work contained a live projection component so participates could see themselves appear on the walls as part of the art installation. It's all part of the dreamlike environment and secret places that is more nice than not.
Self on The Shelf was dreamed up by a pair of visual artists with skills in projected mapping, film, video, animation and visual art. Experiencing the installation was not nearly as complicated as the list of skills needed to create the fanciful work. The work is inspired by a childhood toy by the curator's son. His "Elf on the Shelf" was a toy that was a stand in for Santa Claus and, as part of his Christmas team, could report back on whether he was naughty or nice to determine the level of gifts delivered on Christmas Eve.
The Self on The Shelf can transform into both sweet dreams or nightmares where elves take over the room or storms envelop the room. Other actions will create the room to transform into a pool, a drawing that unfolds or to place the visitor in the room as way of looking themselves in the mirror.
Overall, the installation was a fun breathe in an art fair with work that could be heavy on the heart or harsh on the eyes."
Pat Rogers for Hamptons Art Hub, March 10, 2018



Spanish filmmaker Laia Cabrera and animator / videomapper Isabelle Duverger co-create an interactive immersive installation for Spring Break Art Show 2018.
"Through immersive interactive projection mapping, video art, illustration and animation, Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger, in collaboration with interaction designer Nicola Carpeggiani, have created a child’s bedroom and bring it to life as it responds to a series of clues or hints, which are given to visitors as they enter the room, turning into a nightmarish dreamscape in honor of the eponymous elf which has become the symbol of children’s intimate acceptance of 21st century surveillance realities.
Extracted from a 2012 journal entry about curator Christine Miele’s son and his relationship with James, his first Elf on the Shelf, the concept of this stranger from the North Pole was born. The dramatic visual effects transforms the room as the viewer explores feelings, emotions and limits between reality and fantasy."
Spain Arts and Culture, March 6, 2018



Christine Miele, Curator
An Immersive Interactive Video Mapping and Sound Art Installation by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger
Interaction by Nicola Carpeggiani / Experiential Branding by Laura Valenzuela / Product Design Artist Amy Pilkington

















Photo Credit: Sammy Sachs, Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger

Great article on Aire in the Poughkeepsie Journal - USA Today

"Arts event spurs strong community response" by Emma Flynn, June 30, 2016
read more: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/opinion/valley-views/2016/06/30/arts-event-spurs-strong-community-response/86479938/

Our latest collaboration with Erica Glyn published in the Huffington Post!

“I felt like Dollars For Thieves was a complete work as opposed to 5 songs stacked back to back and wanted to create a unique experience for the record release party. I asked installation-video-artist Laia Cabrera and animator Isabelle Duverger if they would be interested in collaborating. They loved the EP and suggested we make an album-video. When they showed me what they had done, I was so excited and inspired by the duet between the music and the visuals, I knew we had to do something really special to really show it off. For the release party, we took over Matt Torrey’s bar in Bushwick by projecting the video on their wall of windows and immersed the audience in an epic multimedia journey.” - Erica Glyn with Mike Ragogna, Huffington Post, March 25, 2016

Link to the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/about-jeff-buckleys-you-and-i-suzanne-vega-and-more_us_56f4214be4b0de27d41815c0

Article in El Diario: "Projecting Dream All Around The World"

Proyectando fantasías alrededor del mundo
by Silvina Sterin Pensel/Especial para EDLP, originally published in El Diario - Jun, 1, 2014


Illustration by Isabelle Duverger

"Por un momento, se está en el mar abierto en compañía de medusas, peces y otras criaturas. Luego, caminando en la polvorienta superficie lunar, llena de cráteres y fisuras. Después, el entorno se vuelve cavernoso, predomina el rojo y lumínicas llamaradas devoran el lugar. Pero no es el océano, ni la luna ni el infierno: Es el Lower East Side, más precisamente Dixon Place, un pequeño teatro sobre la calle Chrystie que Laia Cabrera transformó en un lugar mágico durante la puesta de Cosmicomics, una pieza basada en la novela de Italo Calvino.

"Intervinimos el suelo y el fondo", comenta esta española recordando cómo obró semejante mutación valiéndose de animaciones, cámaras que proyectaban en vivo los movimientos de los actores sobre las paredes y paneles móviles.

El primer paso, explica, es siempre evaluar el espacio donde se desarrollará el espectáculo. Laia lo recorre de punta a punta: ¿Cuántas filas de asientos hay? ¿Cuántas plantas tiene el lugar? ¿Cuántas ventanas? Revisa los planos y le abre la puerta a su imaginación. "Es clave que mi fantasía sea viable técnicamente; es mi mayor desafío".

Largas sesiones

Luego de largas sesiones de brainstorming junto a su socia y roommate, la francesa Isabelle Duverger, Laia se anima a todo. "Creo sin un corset. Utilizo elementos del cine porque es mi formación pero me salgo de lo tradicional". Con su video instalación Shifting Gaze convirtió Times Square en una gigante plataforma multimediática donde los neoyorquinos reflexionaron en 360 grados sobre las elecciones, el deseo y la memoria, tres temas que la obsesionan. Muy pronto rumbeará a Italia donde proyectarán imágenes y animaciones sobre el Tempietto di Bramante, un imponente monumento renacentista en el corazón de Roma. "llevamos las maletas cargadas de proyectores y el montaje nos llevará dos semanas".

Laia llegó a NY en 1997 buscando un terreno más fértil que Barcelona para sus experimentos visuales. "En aquella época, allá, me miraban como bicho raro. Aquí todo era interdisciplinario; los artistas colaboraban unos con otros y se respiraba libertad y aventura".

La Gran Manzana, ciudades en Europa y Latinoamérica se convierten así en sus salas y Laia proyecta sus videos –la mayoría filmados por ella misma- en fachadas de edificios de todo tipo, altura y material. "Mucha gente ve vidrio y huye. Para mí, es todo lo contrario, no paro hasta encontrar cómo plasmar lo que imagino". 

Read More...


Picture by Lee Wexler

Picture by Lee Wexler

Cosmicomics Reviews: Summary on our Projection Design, Videoart & Animation

Photo of the Week, TimeOut New York nº949, April 10-16, 2014 (Photo by Lee Wexler/ImagesforInnovation.org)

2014 NYIT Award Nomination for Outstanding Innovative Design (Projection Design, Videoart and Animations)

"The sight of the modern stage techniques using projected images, videos, colors, lights and shadows helps the viewers to understand the texts from the mouth of the actors."
"The very powerful scenes were those in which the actors were acting out the story live on stage while in the background projections appeared at the same time."
"An interesting, very spectacular show"
- Barát Tamás WBPI / New York, Breuerpress International, April 8, 2014

"There are many gorgeous projections that fill up this space. [...] Federico Restrepo’s lighting is an enormous part of the show, as are the lunar landscapes and other projections designed by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger." - Ed Malin, nytheater now, March 30, 2014

"I’ve seen a few of New Stage Theatre’s previous shows and have always been struck by the absolutely stunning visual elements" Katy Einerson, Culture Bot, March 31, 2014

"I let my mind float away on a drunken cloud and into the absurd non sequitur universe of Italo Calvino. I found myself delighted. [...] The music is playful and lovely like the shifting backdrops of the universe in freefall, a solitary studio, or a beach party." Aurin Squire, New York Theatre Review, April 8, 2014

"Just saw COSMICOMICS, where Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger have totally outdone themselves. Amazing! You.got.to.see.it!!!" - Laura Turegano, Associate Director, King Juan Carlos Center At NYU, April 4, 2014

"Visually extravagant beyond belief with a great cast, great costumes, and great fun! [...] GO see it!!" Jackie Rudin, Community Organizer, NYC, April 6, 2014

Garden of Delights Reviews: Summary on our Projection Design, Videoart & Animation

Garden of Delights | Theater for the New City - Joyce and Seward Johnson Theater | November 15th to December 2nd, 2012
New York Innovative Theater Award Nominee for Outstanding Innovative Design (Projection Design, Video-Art and Animation) for Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger 

PRESS


Photo by Lee Wexler, Images For Innovation

"Photo of the week: Garden of Delights
New Stage Theatre Company's Ildiko Nemeth directs a multimedia revival of Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal's 1968 look inside the psyche of a disturbed actress."
- Time Out New York # 886 (November 29 - December 5, 2012)



First and foremost, a message from Fernando Arrabal himself:
"j'ai trouvé  votre  réalisation fantastique , originale , colorée et très ryhmée … un vrai travail inventif, une authentique recherche de la polysémie du texte... et de sa mise en scène… je crois que Jérôme Bosch lui-même aurait apprécié cette approche, sa fantaisie à la fois maîtrisée et apparemment débridée… les vidéos... j'aimerais qu 'un spectacle de cette qualité puisse connaître le succès qu'il mérite… félicitez toute l'équipe encore une fois... je garde un souvenir ému de ma soirée... " - Fernando Arrabal, writer of Garden of Delights
Translation: "I found your realization fantastic, original, colorful and very rhythmical... A truly inventive work, an authentic research of the text polysemy... and of its staging... I believe Jerome Bosch himself would have enjoyed this approach, his fantasy at once controlled and seemingly unbridled... the videos... I would love that a show of this quality that it meets the success it deserves... Congratulate all the team once more... I have fond memories of my evening..."



"DARK AND DELIGHTFUL" - Stage and Cinema

"many of the time/space transformations are accomplished with the aid of video images projected onto several flats set up on the stage (projection design, video-art and animations by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger). It’s an interesting concept, creating multi-layered, colorful worlds." - Stage and Cinema

"It is a stimulating, modern production, full of techno music and video projections, including snippets of Bosch's famous painting The Garden of Earthly Delights." - nytheatre.com

"The projections and videos by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger make for an incredibly colorful and sensual performance. Scenery changes every few seconds, and video projections show Lais's soliloquies from many different angles." - nytheatre.com

"Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger, provide a simple clean set of flats with marvelous projections playing on them, including Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, and a huge egg as a prop, and there is a terrific soundscape with music by Jon Gilbert Leavitt. Lighting by Federico Restrepo enhances everything. Nemeth has directed with great timing and synchronization of sound, projections and acting, and she can capture you into the strange Arrabal’s surreal universe: an artistic adventure well done." - Lively-Arts.com

TRAILER



SUMMARY

The New Stage Theatre Company updates Arrabal's tale of Lais' dazzling and bizarre journey in this mesmeric production directed by Ildiko Nemeth, with video projection designers Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger. Through a carefully crafted imaginary, the play depict some of the ways that today's culture - celebrity-obsessed to an unprecedented degree - and the preponderance of certain primal behaviors within that culture, may inform the audience's interpretation of Arrabal's premise.

Directed by Ildiko Nemeth / New Stage Theatre Company
Projection Design, Video-Art and Animations by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger
Choreography by Catherine Correa and Ildiko Nemeth in collaboration with the Actors
Lighting Design by Federico Restrepo | Set Design by Ildiko Nemeth | Original Score by Jon Gilbert Leavitt
Cast: Kaylin Lee Clinton, Belle Caplis, Brandon Olson*, Chris Tanner, Geraldine Dulex, Denice Kondik, Francisca Magalhães, Valerie Miller, Florencia Minniti, Devin Nelson, Emma Pettersson, Alexandra Pike, Juliana Silva, and Jeanne Lauren Smith (*These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association)
Principal Administrator: Fabiyan Pemble-Belkin | Press Agent: DARR Publicity

Garden of Delights is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program is supported, in part, by Spain Culture New York- Consulate General of Spain: a member of the network Spain Arts and Culture. Cage provided by HumanCages.com








Photos above by Isabelle Duverger


Photo by Lee Wexler, Images For Innovation