The Integrated Screen. From Projection Surfaces to Algorithms: Projection Mapping As a Perspective of Analysis

Abstract

With the migration of cinema towards other screens, real or presumed, cinematographic screen has been the object of phenomena variously defined in terms of relocation, gulliverization, dissemination. In each of these meanings, the concept of screen itself seems to be crucial: that is the focus, for instance, of the so-called screen studies, that recognize the screen as the minimum common denominator of every form of moving image. Thus, what do we talk about when we talk about screens?

As screens and formats have evolved, software operating for those screens and formats has evolved, too. This is evident in the case of projection mapping, a form of expression that is somehow extreme, and that pinpoints a theoretically relevant issue: the screen is not only an ontological feature of the whole cinema; it is also, and most saliently, an element integrated in the image itself. The quid of the cinematographic image, to this extent, would be not so much the presence of the screen, but the ability of the cinematographic device to virtualize and incorporate it.