The digital collective is fuelling Charleroi’s rebirth as a home of impressive urban art

Post-industrial Charleroi is to Wallonia as Detroit is to the US and Glasgow to the UK. Once shorthand for industry and wealth, it is now more readily associated with economic blight and all its attendant woes. But the city is set for a renaissance, with the entire urban centre one giant building site as Charleroi undergoes a face-lift for the 21st century. What’s more, its long-active underground arts scene is bubbling up to the surface. 

The digital artists of Dirty Monitor are among the pioneers of Charleroi’s rebirth. For over a decade the collective has represented its home town in ever wider circles: first Wallonia, then Belgium and finally Europe and the world. Their unique 3D projections have been exhibited from Brussels to Beijing. And, despite this global success, the company and its artists remain rooted in Charleroi. Administrator and communications officer Antoine Minalda invited us to the office to talk Dirty (Monitor).

The company’s spacious digs in Charleroi’s Vector Centre are a far cry from the basement in which the idea was conceived. It all started, Minalda says, at the turn of the millennium with Mauro Cataldo and Denis Van Cauteren, two friends who shared both a passion for digital media and a complete lack of expertise and experience. “They were amateurs in the classic sense,” Minalda says. “They did it because they were passionate about it, because they loved it.” And they were determined to do it well. The duo invested in the latest hardware and cut their teeth as video jockeys at local parties.

It was at one such soiree, in the neighbouring city of La Louvière, that the boys were discovered by producer Franco Dragone. The Cirque du Soleil director opened all kinds of doors for Dirty Monitor, which was evolving beyond the founding partnership into a loose collective of artists. They began appearing at corporate events in addition to alternative happenings. More importantly, they progressively diversified their portfolio, incorporated new influences and forged their own distinctive style of multimedia performance art. As the commissions started rolling in, Dirty Monitor became a serious job. “Now they could really go pro,” says Minalda.

Everything was in place. Almost. But Dirty Monitor wouldn’t really hit its stride until 2008, when Cataldo’s brother Orphée joined the team. The architect-by-trade brought with him the technical know-how to tackle the new art of 3D mapping, and if there’s one thing to which Dirty Monitor owes its global reputation today, it’s their pioneering mappings.

If you’ve not heard of 3D mapping, you’re not alone. This new art form is only just breaking out of its professional ghetto, where it is used as a drafting tool for architects. The concept is straightforward: create a two-dimensional image using three-dimensional perspective, project it on a screen or otherwise flat surface and voilà, the illusion of depth. In truth, this is the same principle behind perspective painting and the same rules apply: the more precise the technique, the more convincing the 3D effect.

The process gets all the more interesting – and intricate – when the canvas is not a mere rectangular plane, when it has its own textures and features, and when it’s really, really big. Dirty Monitor’s first 3D work, for example, was tailor-made to fit the facade of the European Parliament. This kind of mapping is a painstaking process that requires the artisan’s precision as well as the artist’s vision. (Specialised software helps, too.)

Dirty Monitor takes the concept even further by introducing animation to the mix. The complexity of the final product is mind-boggling. It requires skill, co-operation and patience to get every line and every angle just right. The gang’s most demanding commission was a recent production of Peter Pan in Brussels. Cataldo and co were tasked with designing and displaying two hours of fluid, digital sets for an immense stage with several geographic features (pictured). From start to finish, the job took an augmented 10-person team a full year to complete.

They’re not all this intensive, though. “Each piece is different,” Minalda says, “and each requires its own conditions.” He says the average commission takes about a month to prepare, though there are no hard and fast rules. The Cataldo brothers employ a core team of five, leaving enough flexibility to engage additional personnel as circumstances warrant. Founder Van Cauteren is now part of this adjunct expert pool, having left the full-time fold to focus on other activities.

The future looks bright for Dirty Monitor, who are set to kick off the new year with an original 3D mapping commissioned by a Swiss luxury watchmaker. The sky’s the limit from there. One thing is for certain: Dirty Monitor is staying in Charleroi. “The creators of the company have received propositions to move our offices to Brussels,” Minalda confides, “but they’re not interested. Charleroi is a small city full of artists. Everyone knows one another. This is where they want to be.”

This article was first published in the Wab magazine.