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Oskar & Gaspar is a collective team of visual artists and multimedia professionals (originally two Portuguese twins) who specialize in video mapping and 3D projection. I first saw them on America’s Got Talent and was intrigued by their work.

One of their projects involved video mapping projections on tattoos, which resulted in tattoos being beautifully brought to life. They were fascinated by tattoos and used the human body as a canvas in a unique way that could be demonstrated live and have a deeper impact that seeing it on a screen. The process involved scanning then animating the tattoos, then projecting the animations directly onto the original models. They first showcased their work at the first live tattoo video mapping event in Lisbon, Portugal.

In the video description, they emphasize that no post production was used, so all the effects seen were also seen live. Many have critiqued their performance, saying it isn’t interesting enough, and I agree that the performance would be improved with the actor moving, even if it is difficult to sync the projection.

There are tons of previous projects of projection mapping that may have inspired Oskar and Gaspar, so the concept is not new. They took the concept of projection art and put their own special twist on it. This sort of project opens up infinite opportunities of using the human body to portray artwork in a technologically advanced way, and I can see performance artists of any sort using it to enhance their stage presence in a more visual way.