Meet Camilla Tassi | Projection Designer, Producer, Musician.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camilla Tassi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camilla, is there something you believe many others might not?
I feel this advice is shifting a bit as years pass, but I like to challenge the idea that you should specialize in just one skill. In the arts it really helps to be – to quote a friend – ‘a jack of all trades and master of few’. What I do as a projection designer (and the reason I am working with professional groups across the country and abroad) is due to the fact that so much of this practice is about being sensitive to other elements in the room. In the field of multimedia live performance, the more you speak the language of the other fields you’re collaborating with, the better. I come to projection design & mapping as someone with formal backgrounds in computer science, music, and sonic arts. I’ve done a fair share of producing, performing, directing, and translating. All of these aspects are tied to elements that make the performance whole. Work in theater and music is inherently collaborative – I want for my collaborators (designers, stage directors, performers, managers, etc.) to feel respected and I want to build trust with them, which is why I’ve invested time diving into what they do. It reduces misunderstandings and allows for more open sharing. It also allows you to make connections across seemingly disparate topics.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m primarily a projection designer for live performance and installation! While I also design for museum pieces and theater, my focus is design for music. In my studies as an undergrad, I had no idea this was even a field that existed. It’s been a beautiful journey across interests that has brought me here, and I could not be more thankful – it is a practice that allows for a synthesis of so many of the things I love (music, technology, language, community, producing) and one that allows me to constantly learn about new skills and lived experiences outside of my own.

I’m originally from Florence, Italy, and emigrated to the US (for which I am now a dual citizen). It wasn’t easy to get to this point in my work, and I want others to know that it’s important to fight and create avenues outside of existing ones – do not expect people to make space for your craft, especially when you’re trying to create bridges across fields. And do not let the walls discourage you!

I’m a founder of the performance+educational initiative DesMuse, which allows theatrical designers and musicians to work and network together. This space emerged as a love of both ‘fields’ and also out of wanting to push back against the ‘silos’ of higher education here in America. In my experience, performance design fields are all placed in theater departments and taught primarily to design for prose/text. On the other end, musicians are relegated to music departments – kept separate from theater practices. Yet, in the professional sphere, there is a continued demand for the intersection of these two.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Which city? I call so many home! If choosing between Florence, Italy, and New Haven, CT… Both are great, but I’ll give a little shoutout to my home town. I would take them to see the view from the Piazzale Michelangelo, where you can see the full city. If we just had time for one museum, the Uffizi. Best and affordable restaurant? Trattoria Bordino. With a whole week, I’d recommend we grab a car and drive to a lot of the beautiful (and nearby) small towns not far from Florence, including Arezzo and Pienza.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to give two shoutouts! One to Midnight Oil Collective, for the beautiful work they are doing pushing for economic equity for artists (and for referring me to you!) And also to New Muses Project, which looks at expanding the canon, performance, and research of music to one that prioritizes BIPOC and women-identifying composers.

Website: http://camillatassi.com

Instagram: camtassi

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ctassi/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camilla.tassi

Other: http://desmuse.org

Image Credits
Matthew Fried, J Fannon Photography, T Charles Erickson, Scott Van Osdol