PERCEPTIONS OF A PRESIDENT
Using projection-mapping software and 3D techniques to produce Carrie Mae Weems' vision
Forty-four noted artists were commissioned by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to creatively interpret America’s 44th President, using busts of Barack Obama as their “canvas.” “The stand-out,” said the Detroit Free Press, “is Carrie Mae Weems’ multilayered mixed-media piece.”
– The Detroit Free Press
Internationally renowned photographer, Carrie Mae Weems selected Perfect Prototype to technologically translate her artistic vision into a striking work of streaming video and narration – the only multimedia piece in the collection.
Ms. Weems worked with Perfect Prototype to turn widely diverse perceptions of the President, many from public media, into literal images projected onto the Obama bust: Lincoln, the Joker, Hitler, Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, a blackface minstrel.
– Carrie Mae Weems Comments on Perfect Prototype
In our Philadelphia studio, Ms. Weems and Perfect Prototype shaped the concept and employed our projection-mapping software and 3D techniques to produce the realistic imagery and vivid presentation. The bust was 3D-scanned to clone a perfect multi-dimensional model, which was then used to morph the imagery to perfectly match the contours of the sculpture.
Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” was blended into the background behind Ms. Weems poetic narration that both provokes and questions the political process, hopes and expectations, and ourselves.
The exhibition was conceived and organized by Peter Kaplan of Our World, LLC. Perfect Prototype is a proud partner of The Visions of the 44th President Exhibit, which will tour the country before being incorporated into the permanent collection at The Wright Museum in Detroit.
