Author: skotwal@andrew.cmu.edu

Interactive Art Installation for LAX by Moment Factory

Montreal-based media and entertainment studio Moment Factory created seven interactive capsules based installation inspired by the romance of travel and the importance of passenger experience for Los Angeles International Airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Using motion design, live-action film-making, 3D animation, architectural design and other forms of media-making, a few Moment Factory’s seven capsules include a multimedia “Welcome Wall” for arriving passengers, a “Bon Voyage

Wall” for those departing, and two Portals that respond to real-time arrival and departure data for 16 countries, as well as the physical movements of individual travelers.  The terminal’s focal point is the 72-foot Time Tower, a real time clock built around the terminal’s main elevators with a motion sensitive interactive surface composed of 6,480 square feet of LED surface. Depending on the time of day, the physical movements of individual travelers will trigger the Time Tower  to respond with corresponding media capsules and seemingly shift its architectural form. At every hour, for example, the Time Tower will shift to Dance Time , a Busby Berkeley inspired capsule in which travelers are given a glimpse into the inner-workings of the tower, revealing a fleet of glamorous dancers gracefully twirling the clock’s gears in perfect time.

The idea here was to give the travelling passengers an emotional and visceral experience by using media that transcends the floating, almost ephemeral experience of an airport and the corresponding architecture by anchoring the travelers in this place while still respecting their experience of being at an airport.

Link: https://creators.vice.com/en_us/article/3d58dv/moment-factory-create-a-massive-interactive-art-installation-for-lax

 

 

Anechoic Chamber, South Bank University, London

As the name suggest, the chamber is designed to be echo-free or non reflective for sound waves. Traditionally, developed to conduct a wide variety of sound related experiments, this chamber provides an experience where all the sound energy transmitted from the source travels away from the source and non is reflected back to it. The anechoic chamber in South Bank University provides a surreal experience, where all previously unperceived notions of sound become apparent. Such as sound of blood flowing through the body, thumping of heartbeats and by spending few minutes in the chamber, one becomes hyper-aware of their body and its existence with relation to the space around.

Link to project page: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/case-studies/acoustics-anechoic-reverberation-chamber

https://youtu.be/MyP7i1B_QNk

Backside Of The Moon, Naoshima

Back of The Moon is one of many other architectural treasures on Japans’s “Art Island”. Its is a timber clad structure with a pitch black interior which renders you blind till the time your eyes slowly start adjusting to the practically no light environment. Eventually, as your eyes begins to adjust, you begin to get a sense of environment around you and the painstakingly detailed eerie grey light installations become visible. This structure represents the essence of how light and darkness can be harnessed to create truly powerful experiences.

Link to project page: http://jamesturrell.com/work/backsideofthemoon/