Interfaces Montréal

Immersion

Emric Epstein & Martin Granger-Piché

Co-Founder, VYV

Photon, the ultimate tool for visual control in shows and permanent installations

After studying music and the electric bass for a couple of years, Martin Granger-Piché switched to computer science and computer graphics. Still passionate about music and the performing arts, Martin created VYV with Emric Epstein (a fellow student) and Pierre Poulin (his thesis director at graduate school).

Growing up in the Caribbean, Emric Epstein was surrounded by computers and visual creativity -- his parents ran an advertising production company. This background gave him the confidence to leave the sea for computer science studies at the University of Montreal, and ultimately to create VYV with Martin Granger-Piché and Pierre Poulin.

Since its beginnings, VYV has completed some thrilling projects. These include a permanent installation at the National Museum of Singapore, and concert tours by Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys, for which they managed HD video content, live projection and ultrafast installation requirements at every show.

We will present the philosophy and passion that drive VYV research and creations. How we can move from traditional 4:3 TV and 16:9 cinema to get to the Star Trek Holodeck. TV is the most common multi-user visualization device; CAVE and the Panoscope 360° are projection environments that visually reproduce the feeling of the Holodeck but only for a single user centered in the sweet spot. At VYV we are somewhere between these two extremes, by allowing real-time display of HD content, live sources and interactivity from multiple projectors to complex display surfaces. Real-time control of the content is one of our main concerns, and we always try to transform and simplify the technical complexity of projections so that the artists can stop worrying about these aspects and concentrate on their art and creations.