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555 KUBIK | facade projection | from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Urban Projection Critique - Kevin Walker

"555 KUBIK"

There are many things that I admire about the piece 555 KUBIK. The first thing that stands out at me is the visual quality of the projection on the wall. The high resolution dueled with the straight lines of the cubes really maximize the characteristics of how the pixels work with the projector.  I also found the animation in this piece to be quite pleasing to the eye; simple movements among the "blocks" on the building producing interesting architectural statements. The sounds in the piece were really minimized in this piece which seemed to give us only the sounds we would naturally hear from the movement in the piece, and i felt like it completed the piece for me.

If there was anything i could ask for more from this piece, it would be two things. One, I would have like to see a some interaction between the piece and the viewer, maybe a way they can get more involved with the piece via motion sensor or laser pointer. And Secondly, it would have been nice to see the setting within the piece to be more broad, in which i mean taking the blocks and replacing them with maybe different square objects such as maybe, a rubix cube, instead of a concrete blocks. 

Overall, "555 KUBIK" is a great piece and I really enjoyed viewing it.

Kevin Walker

http://www.urban-projection.com/?p=283

Anti VJ: http://vimeo.com/2141464

About 4 minutes in, the crowd begins to hoot and holler.  After a series of epic/cascading visuals (birds conglomerates, fantastic city scape, horse-man, and cyber vine) the projection zeros in on the window/door well of the building. Timing, repetition, and sound are used seamlessly to generate an atmosphere, building climax and finale.  The door well transforms into a portal as the projection very decisively plays with the facade  of the buidling.  In contrast to the epic images first generated/projected, the simple mind-bending of the buildings parts (bricks etc.) is super trippy/cognitive?  At 4 minutes the pieces heads into climax and a  finale similar to the end of a fireworks display ( a spectacle familiar to many). The sound tailored for this work finds a way to accelerate inside you as the building smashes down.

The piece I chose is 555 Kubik by Urbanscreen.

This projection appeals to me through its exquisite, rich details on the full surface of a building. The illusions are realistic to the degree of confusing viewers--who are alien to the building--question whether the cubes are actually popping out because the building is capable of it, or if its just really well done with shadows and timing. Initially, the synchronization of pressure from hand gestures and cubes intrigued me. The sound of hard cement scraping another surface also adds to the illusion, or credibility of illusion because the mind relates it automatically to the visuals of cubes. Halfway through the video, the projection played on the real (only) roll of windows by creating images of similar light reflected windows on the rest of the building. It was taken a step further by adding dimension when each small window cell becomes a cube popping out or seemingly lowering into the building as it casts shadows also.

Although viewers know it is just an illusion, the piece is well crafted enough to pull it off, even if just in that moment of projection. 

Link: http://www.urban-projection.com/?p=279

 

            Of all the pieces I viewed on this website, one stood out to me. "Projection on Gate" is by far the most impressive work. The images are projected onto the gate in such a way that you cannot even tell that it is a projection. The precision of the lines and pictures is amazing. The timing and placement of the images are so perfect that it actually looks like the gate is producing them itself. This design leaves no room for error for the artist. The dedication of the artist was very high on this project. You can see that they had to plan out the exact details of every element. Even the sound is chosen and placed so flawlessly that you do not even notice it, it just feels right. Overall, this is a very remarkable piece of art.

 

-Tom Flessland

http://vimeo.com/841400

 

The piece "Projection on Gate" was actually the opening to another piece, "Projections on a Tree". I liked this piece because, unlike most of the other pieces on the site, this focused on a small portion of an everyday building and accentuated it. It made people notice something that would otherwise simply be there. In an architecture lecture I am currently enrolled in, we discussed how an entryway is one of the most important pieces of any structure, yet it is often neglected in day-to-day activity. This piece gives that neglected part of the structure a new face.

 

What really interested me about the piece was the ability of the artist to divide the projection into portions of light and darkness. I am confused as to how it is possible to have areas of darkness within a projection's field of view. Some experimentation with Livedraw may be in order. . .

the horse in motion, by dave lynch

the sound really scared me at first, but it was a fun piece. i admire the most the simplicity of the animation, knowing that dave lynch probably took the original footage of the horse in motion from 120 years ago, or at least reinstated it from the old frames. this work truly exemplifies motion, because the moving doubles with the running horse and the running car at the same time. the sound in relation to the graphic is another aspect i really like, because it makes it the perfect gallop and therefore impact on me. i also appreciate the forceful speed of the image and the way it runs parallel to the unsuspecting street. when i sum up the image and the sound and the overall effect, it reads like an illustrated story, maybe a fairytale. the best part of this piece for me is how the horse and its rider are running through the street which is its background literally, but also an environment-- if it weren't considered a street, as if it could have been a field or desert, or anything but that busy setting. the rider and the horse hurry but act like it's no big deal to be riding through there and i like that, too.

Tag und Nacht is a projection piece that i really like. Besides the obvious points of how well the piece was directed and performed the piece also used some other technics that i really liked. For instance, My favorite aspect of projection art is that when the projection actually uses the building or whatever it is projecting on as a canvas. This projection took the windows on the building and incorporated them into the projection. Also another thing that i liked about this projection is that they did not only use the projector and the computer to create all of their images. For a brief moment in the performance they cast shadows on building. That is why i liked this piece more than some of the other ones on the website. 

Projection on Gate from Luuk Meuffels on Vimeo.

       Although it may seem simple due to its scale, this piece has quite an impact on the viewer. By day, this is just an ordinary entrance way that many people pass through and never get to take the time to examine or even think about. Through the animation and lighting, the gate appears to be alive and breathing, almost beckoning a passerby to enter. It really gives the doorway a sort of importance, since none of the windows or surrounding area are lit in any way. Also, the projection works with the architecture itself. It is not just something projected onto a gate like its title indicates, the projection is actually part of the gate now, creating something completely new. There seems to be a sci-fi reference in regards to the style of the projection and the music chosen for the video, which is an interesting contrast to the rustic gate. The combination of these aspects yields an impressive piece.