Triple Wide Media

I think why I love creating immersive environments is exactly for this reason…it tells a story in visual ways. And that is timeless! 

On the “distorted reality” idea… I think we have the opportunity to do a 2 things. We can create a false reality for the worshiper to escape into, forgetting the reality of our lives, brokenness and humanity. A celebration-fest that lacks transparency and a high degree of authenticity where we humbly recognize & own our darkness & brokenness while pointing to hope, healing & freedom.

So for me, i want to point to a more true Reality…one that makes the reality of normal life feel like a ghostly temporal substance (C.S. Lewis wrote about this, and Gungor based their last record “Ghosts Upon the Earth” on this concept). 

Modern Western, intellectually-centered, linear culture has so infected the spiritual culture of our faith and so has affected the way we worship & believe. Through this process, we have severely limited how and what we see (physically & spiritually). Tools & methods like environmental projection mapping can be a catalyst to wake us up in a visual way, and to see the world and the Kingdom and Creation as it truly is. To point us to Reality. 

This is what the artists who built the cathedrals & stained glass understood. They got the essence of this. And that’s why, with our own religious baggage put aside, the cathedrals seem to be so timeless.

Of course, anything can become a gimmick or a fad. And projection can be treated as such, depending on the individual’s motives and foundational philosophy (or lack thereof). It all goes back to the “WHY.” If you don’t build on some sort of foundation, the house will fall. And yeah, it’ll look cool, trendy, hip & ‘relevant’ for a minute…but it won’t be timeless. And it won’t last. It’ll look pretty but it won’t be beautiful. It’ll attract the masses but it won’t tell a story. My greatest fear is that things like EP & a weak unstable idea of visual worship will ultimately just add to the noise. And the last thing we need in our churches & culture these days is more noise. 

It all goes back to telling the Story. And EP is a great early 21st Century medium for telling the Story &/or at least creating an appropriate & tasteful environment for the Story to be told. & this can be done both inside & outside the walls that we are projecting onto.