Pablo N. Molina

Pablo N. Molina is an artist, designer, and technologist whose work bridges theater, architecture, and media. Grounded in decades of experience in projection and video design, he creates immersive environments where image, space, and performance operate as a single expressive system. His practice transforms technology into a medium of storytelling—one that expands how audiences experience narrative, presence, and scale.

Molina’s visual designs, installations, and performances have appeared at leading cultural institutions including the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Broadway, EMPAC, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Microsoft, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago), the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), On the Boards, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), The Public Theater, REDCAT, Salesforce, Sundance New Frontiers, TED, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Across these contexts, his work blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, and performance—turning light, motion, and story into multidimensional landscapes.

Most recently, Molina served as Technical Director for the reinvention of the Top of the Rock Observation Deck at Rockefeller Center in New York City. He led the project’s technical vision and media-systems design, integrating immersive experiences that span the lobby, elevator journey, and rooftop attractions. The result, realized in collaboration with architects, engineers, and creative partners, embeds interactive systems and projection mapping within one of the city’s most iconic Art Deco landmarks—inviting visitors into a renewed encounter with the skyline.

Earlier, he contributed as Projection Mapping Consultant for the award-winning One World Observatory at One World Trade Center, advising on immersive media and architectural projection systems. The project reimagined the act of sightseeing as a narrative journey through resilience and renewal, employing time-traveling media elevators, gesture-based sculptures, and panoramic projections to connect history and place.

In large-scale entertainment, Molina served as Technical Video Systems Designer and Integrator for Marvel Universe Live!, Feld Entertainment’s groundbreaking arena tour produced in partnership with Marvel. Working with creative director Bob Bonniol and the design team, he developed multi-screen projection systems, automation-synchronized playback, and robust network infrastructures that brought cinematic storytelling to the scale of touring spectacle.

He later partnered again with Bonniol as Lead Video Systems Engineer and Technical Designer for Fantastic Journey, the original live multimedia production aboard the Caribbean Princess for Princess Cruises. Molina engineered and integrated advanced projection, mapping, and playback systems that transformed the ship’s theater into a seamless, high-performance media environment—redefining what live entertainment at sea could be.

Molina also contributed video design for the Alex Timbers–directed musical adaptation of ROCKY, produced by Stage Entertainment and Sylvester Stallone in Hamburg, Germany. His collaboration with New York designer Dan Scully on the Broadway production earned critical praise for its inventive fusion of cinematic imagery and live performance.

In 2023, Molina served as Projection Designer for Fetch Clay, Make Man, directed by Debbie Allen at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. His design transformed the boxing-gym set into a living collage of archival imagery and abstract motion, weaving historical context through the physical space to illuminate themes of memory, identity, and cultural legacy. Entertainment Weekly praised the work for “obscur[ing] the boxing gym set with a display of real images … underscoring the cultural significance of their memories.”

As a principal member of Early Morning Opera (EMO)—the interdisciplinary performance laboratory led by Lars Jan—Molina has designed custom video, lighting, and software systems for landmark works including ABACUS, THE INSTITUTE OF MEMORY (TIMe), HOLOSCENES, A SUICIDE BOMBING BY INVITATION ONLY, and TAKES. His long collaboration with EMO has helped define its distinctive synthesis of performance, technology, and environmental design.

Beyond his creative practice, Molina has made lasting contributions to education and mentorship in digital performance. A long-time faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) School of Theater, he helped design and launch its pioneering MFA program in Interactive Media for Performance. During his nine-year tenure, he guided emerging artists in uniting technology, dramaturgy, and design into cohesive live experiences. He continues to teach internationally—offering workshops and master classes on real-time rendering, responsive systems, and video design for performance. His teaching has included residencies at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts and presentations at industry forums such as the LDI Institute Projection Master Classes.

Molina’s work reflects a sustained curiosity about how humans interact with technology, perception, and story. Whether reimagining civic landmarks, designing for experimental theater, or developing large-scale entertainment systems, he continues to expand the expressive potential of live visual performance—creating spaces where art, science, and imagination converge.