Mille Plateaux

Mille Plateaux, an interactive art installation by French composer Pascal Dusapin, premiered at the Donaueschinger Musiktage Festival in Germany. No less than 18 different canvasses by ShowTex were suspended in a large dark room and projected with 66 of Dusapin’s semiotic drawings, that were lifted to a three dimensional state with a generative system.

Dusapin carefully chose a variety of ShowTex fabrics for their optical properties to display his drawings in multiple ways, allowing the spectator to walk around the installation. By adding sounds of wind, which he describes as “super” music, he went from a third to a fourth dimension, taking the installation to a higher level.

Pascal used a variety of translucent and semi-transparent Voiles, including the extra light and ultra-translucent LaserVoile by ShowTex. LaserVoile is ideal for laser projections and makes projections seemingly appear and disappear in midair. Feathery transparent Voile CS allowed for the projected drawings to show on both sides while the polarising properties of the rear projected sheers PolarisVoile CS created spectacular light effects.

Several PVC see-through screens were included in the installation. ThinMirror is a lightweight mirror foil that becomes semi-transparent when backlit. Dusapin used ClearScreen Crystal, a completely crystal-clear foil for imitating glass.

Non-translucent screens, like the self-adhesive and hypnotising AC Lambadafoil, were used for the installation as well. The patterns in the screen of this foil create kaleidoscopic light effects. Another great medium for projection and spectacular light effects is ultra-fine gauze LaserTulle that has a small mesh size and very fine threads. And last but not least, a wall of silver AluShape Glitter captured the projections on its three-dimensional surface. This easy to shape cloth can be molded into any desired shape.