“Shadow Monsters”
Philip Worthington, Shadow Monsters, 2004–present, Java, Processing, BlobDetection, SoNIA, and Physics software, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photo by Carrithers Studio
Philip Worthington, Shadow Monsters, 2004–present, Java, Processing, BlobDetection, SoNIA, and Physics software, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photo by Carrithers Studio
Philip Worthington, Shadow Monsters, 2004–present, Java, Processing, BlobDetection, SoNIA, and Physics software, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photo by Carrithers Studio
Philip Worthington, Shadow Monsters, 2004–present, Java, Processing, BlobDetection, SoNIA, and Physics software, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photo by Carrithers Studio
Philip Worthington, Shadow Monsters, 2004–present, Java, Processing, BlobDetection, SoNIA, and Physics software, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Taís Melillo
Title
Shadow Monsters
Dates
May 23–November 1, 2015
Overview
This summer, visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, can take part in a fully immersive art experience: Shadow Monsters, an interactive installation by New York-based artist Philip Worthington, enables participants to create their own shadow plays as their silhouettes are recast in fantastic forms. For the first time, audiences outside of London, Moscow, Seattle, and New York will have the opportunity to experience this enchanting work. As with last summer’s Soto: The Houston Penetrable, when thousands of visitors waded through a shimmering field of 24,000 translucent plastic strands at the MFAH, the soaring architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Cullinan Hall will once again be transformed into a playful and welcoming environment. As of September 3, the end date has been extended from September 20 to November 1, 2015.
Essentially a digital version of a traditional shadow-puppet theater, Shadow Monsters allows visitors to create their own shadow plays, making a childhood game of imagination a reality. Thanks to vision-recognition software that augments the gestures of participants with sound and animation, hands are transformed into mouths with razor-sharp teeth; tongues, eyes, and fins appear from every appendage; and birds and dinosaurs squawk throughout the vast hall.
Following its debut at the Design Museum in London in 2006, and its presentation at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2008, Shadow Monsters has become widely acclaimed for its successful manipulation of digital software, its forward-thinking design, and the active engagement of audiences of all ages. For the Houston presentation, Worthington has worked with MFAH staff to take advantage of the theatrical stage of Cullinan Hall.
Describing how the project was conceived, Worthington has said, “Looking back to my own childhood, I remembered the feeling of casting huge shapes in the light of my father’s slide projector, creating monsters and silly animals. I enjoy working with simple, intuitive things; playful feelings that touch us on a very basic level. At the same time, I was experimenting with some software for vision recognition, so slowly the monsters evolved . . . the rest is history.”
Museum visitors are invited to share their Shadow Monsters experience by posting photos and videos on social media using #ShadowMonsters.
Location
Cullinan Hall / The Caroline Wiess Law Building
1001 Bissonnet Street
Media Contacts
Whitney Radley, publicist
wradley@mfah.org / 713.800.5345
Laine Lieberman, associate publicist
llieberman@mfah.org / 713.639.7516