Creation of an Interactive Mural

ALTKEY's interactive mural presented for the event "journées de la culture".

This last Friday (September 28) ALTKEY conducted an experiment, during the “journées de la culture”, there was a thematic evening about Speed Mapping organized by “Québec Numérique”.

​​​​The evening began with a presentation by Olivier Gagnon of the company 20K about vidéo mapping and then the evening continued with a tape mapping performance from the artist Louis-Robert Bouchard and by our experimentation which was the installation of an interactive mural.

What is an interactive mural? It is a wall on which you can paint virtually to create a fresco directly on a wall.

By manipulating controllers, users have virtual paint brushes in their hands. They can then choose a color of their choice by dipping their brush into one of the three virtual paint buckets available. Then, by approaching the controllers near the wall, they can create a fresco out of light.

These virtual brushes work just like real brushes except they do not leave a permanent mark on the wall since the colors are lights coming from a projector.

From a menu available on a secondary screen, artists could choose their color preferences for their paint buckets, the shape of their virtual brush (eg.: diamond, circle or other), the background color for their fresco and several other parameters. It's like your wall becomes a huge Photoshop canvas (for those who know this software).

It was the first time ALTKEY presented its interactive mural. To celebrate this accomplishment and to test the limits of the mural, we invited a group of professional artists.

In addition to the guest artists, several amateur artists jumped on the opportunity to test their skills. The interactive mural allows two persons to paint at the same time so they can create a collaborative fresco if desired.The reactions were very positive about this experiment and so we plan to repeat this creative activity. Moreover, the comments received during the evening will give us the opportunity to improve the interactive mural for the future events to come.

The reactions were very positive about this experiment and so we plan to repeat this creative activity. Moreover, the comments received during the evening will give us the opportunity to improve the interactive mural for the future events to come.