Moving from projection mapping to physical light with Kit Webster

In this podcast you will learn how Kit Webster moves between digital visualisation, physical prototyping and audiovisual composition to create large-scale media art installations.

Kit Webster is a Melbourne-based audiovisual artist whose practice combines projection, LED light, lasers, sound, sculpture and movement. His work has been presented internationally through galleries, festivals, concerts and commissioned projects.

In this conversation, Kit traces his move from projection mapping towards programmable physical light. He discusses Symbiotica, a permanent geometric LED sculpture commissioned for Imperial Doncaster, and explains how its three-dimensional structure was developed through visualisation, fabrication, custom electronics and software.

The conversation also moves into The Helix, a kinetic sculpture using rotating mirrors, projection, haze and sound, and Orbital, Kit’s current project centred on a large sphere suspended within a column of air. Orbital introduces new challenges around machine vision, low-latency projection mapping and tracking a surface that is constantly moving and deforming.

Kit also reflects on the practical conditions surrounding this work. These include presenting concepts before they physically exist, balancing engineering with audiovisual choreography, designing installations that can travel between festivals, and deciding how much technical precision is actually necessary for an artwork to succeed.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

• How moving from projection mapping to LED changed Kit’s approach to physical space.
• Why Kit prototypes the most technically uncertain parts of an installation early.
• The difference between simulating an installation and experiencing light, sound and scale physically.
• How commissioning, transport and repeated exhibitions affect the development of media artworks

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Chapters

• (00:01:56) Moving from projection mapping towards physical light
• (00:05:36) Developing Symbiotica as a geometric LED sculpture
• (00:07:49) Rapidly prototyping animation across physical light structures
• (00:11:08) Using 3D visualisation and simulation during development
• (00:16:33) Why physical installation cannot be fully represented on screen
• (00:18:55) Developing The Helix with mirrors, projection, movement and sound
• (00:25:49) Prototyping the levitating sphere for Orbital
• (00:29:05) Tracking a moving object with low-latency projection
• (00:35:10) Sharing unfinished work and opening up the creative process
• (00:39:48) Moving an ambitious idea into physical space

About Kit Webster

Kit Webster is a Melbourne-based audiovisual artist working across immersive installation, kinetic light, projection, lasers, sound and sculptural systems.

His practice explores relationships between light, sound, geometry and physical space. Beginning with projection mapping and audiovisual performance, his work has increasingly incorporated programmable LEDs, kinetic structures and other forms of physical light.

Kit’s work has been presented internationally through festivals, exhibitions and commissioned projects, including Vivid Sydney, Dark Mofo, White Night and SIGNAL Festival. His projects range from permanent architectural light works to temporary audiovisual installations and experimental prototypes.

Takeaways from this interview with Kit Webster

Moving from projection to physical light

“A LED is not just a light source, but it's actually a data source with a pixel.”

Kit’s shift towards LED sculpture extended ideas he was already exploring through projection mapping. Programmable pixels could now occupy physical depth, allowing light to become part of the object rather than simply an image placed on its surface.

Prototyping the central uncertainty

“The brief I presented to City of Melbourne was I showed them the levitating balloon, and said, ‘Look, I've done that. It works.'"

For Orbital, Kit first tested whether the central physical proposition was viable. Once a large sphere could be successfully suspended in moving air, he could approach the more complex problems of tracking, projection and choreography with greater confidence.

The limits of simulation

“There is definitely a difference when you see it on the computer and then you see it in physical.”

Digital models can communicate scale and visual behaviour, but they cannot fully reproduce an embodied installation. Kit highlights sub-bass, vibration, haze and physical light as elements whose impact becomes clear only when you enter the space.

Designing for repeated presentations

“When I develop these pieces, it needs to have that longevity.”

Technically complex installations require significant development time, so Kit considers whether they can travel and be presented several times. Each presentation can then provide another opportunity to refine the software, sound and choreography.

Making time for audiovisual choreography

“You end up spending 90% of the time [on] the engineering and building the construction.”

Engineering and fabrication can consume most of an installation schedule. Kit argues that sound and audiovisual choreography need enough development time because they shape how the audience experiences the work across time.

Sharing the process

“It's almost like open sourcing the progress.”

Kit shares prototypes and unfinished experiments publicly rather than treating the development process as secret. This has helped create conversations with other practitioners and generated new professional connections.

Advice

“Who's gonna pay for this? Who's gonna show it? Why are they gonna show it?”

Kit sees one of the hardest parts of media art practice as moving an ambitious idea into physical space. Artists need to consider concept, technical feasibility, funding, exhibition opportunities and communication together if a project is going to progress beyond an idea.

Links from the podcast with Kit Webster

• Visit Kit Webster’s website
• Learn more about Symbiotica
• Learn more about the Helix
• Explore the development of Orbital

The background description and public record support Kit’s Melbourne base, long-running international practice, Symbiotica and The Helix. Kit’s current website describes Orbital as combining a sphere held aloft by air with machine vision and low-latency projected imagery.kitwebster.com