"4D Light & Sound Installation" by Philipp Geist (http://www.videogeist.de)
Place:Ananta Smakhom Throne Hall (Bangkok / Thailand)
Date: 5th December - 13rd December 2009
Artist concept facade installation by Studio Philipp Geist
Berlin artist Philipp Geist (33) shows video installation on the facade of the royal throne in Bangkok on the occasion of king Bhumibol's 82nd birthday from Dec 5-13, 2009.
The one-hour-show is the central part of the celebrations and will be seen by thousands of visitors. It interprets artistically the king's life and his work dedicated to public welfare. The art installation combines images of the king and his social projects in the past and present with 3-D-animations of Thai natural and cultural heritage and abstract-painterly passages.
The artist Philipp Geist:
'I feel honoured to be invited to Bangkok to contribute my work to this very special occasion. The organizers were searching for an artist who has already gained experience in creating big facade installations and who simultaneously has an artistic approach to the representation of diverse cultural themes. By mixing figurative and abstract-pictorial film sequences I want to symbolize the succesful combination of tradition and modernism in the king's work. I translated natural and cultural characteristics, which I have researched and photographed on visiting Thailand, into my own imagery and embedded them into partly minimal-purist, partly colourful, dreamlike and intangibly fragile compositions.'
The facade installation responds to the 3-dimensionality of the throne, highlights the architectural structure and neutralizes it again. What is emerging is an interplay between the depth of the building, figurative elements, abstract forms and various rhythms, colours and structures.
Das Mapping, also das exakte Zuschneiden der Gesamtkompositionen auf den Palast, wurde technisch umgesetzt von einer Partnerfirma aus Frankreich Digital Slaves. Die Projektion mithilfe modernster Computer- und Lichttechnik und den derzeit leistungsstärksten Videoprojektoren übernimmt der Technik-Partner der letzten Olympischen Spiele in China. Ein weiterer Bestandteil der Darbietungen ist ein Dokumentationsfilm über den König, der von einem thailändischen Team erstellt wurde. Konzeption und Koordination der Feierlichkeiten liegen bei den Kreativagenturen Kaiser Communications und Fresh Air Festival aus Bangkok.
The 3-D-animations were created on the computer together with WeAreChopChop & VfxBase. The mapping of the images, which is the precise tailoring of the total composition to the facade, was developed with a partner organisation from France (Digital Slaves). The projection using state-of-the-art computer- and light technologies and the most powerful video projectors available is realized by the technical partner of the last Olympic Games in China. Part of the show is also a documentary of the king prepared by a team from Thailand. The concept and coordination of the festivity is carried out by the creative agencies Kaiser Communications and Fresh Air Festival from Bangkok.
A big orchestra of 128 international musicians, which has been assembled solely for this purpose, and a choir of 100 persons perform together with the light show. A diverse programme including dance performances guarantees a gigantic, singular experience.
Philipp Geist has realized many facade installations internationally. In 2007, he projected on the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, a museum of modern art in Rome, and in 2008, he realized an installation on the complete piazetta of the Berlin Kulturforum on the occasion of the Long Museum Nights. In 2010, a facade installation and a solo exhibition in Richmond/USA are to follow, as well as a facade installation in Montreal/Canada.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creative Technology Asia (Technical Partner) PR Release 2010
King Of Thailand’s Birthday ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the occasion of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand's 82nd birthday in December 2009, a massive celebratory central event was held at the Anantha Samakhom Throne Hall.
Spanning a week long, the star of the event itself was the throne hall which effectively became the backdrop of a video installation show, replete with a huge orchestra cast of 128 international musicians and a choir of the best singers in Thailand. The nightly one hour show combined past and present images of the King, his social projects as well as custom made 3D animations of natural and cultural heritage of Thailand.
CT was contracted by Kaiser Communications to provide the projectors and video link for the event. Berlin artist Philipp Geist was commissioned to provide content for the show.
The design of the show billed as "4D visual light and sound" called for projecting video content and images on to the external façade of the throne hall. The Throne Hall itself is a two storey building in the style of italian renaissance/ neo classic architecture. It measures 112.50m in width and 49.5 meters in height, with a large dome in the centre surrounded by six smaller domes.
CT Asia worked with Kaiser for over three months on the project. "The huge surface of the throne hall made it almost impossible for ordinary projectors to cover and still achieve an acceptable level of brightness," said Rony Xu, General Manger Singapore, CT Asia. "A demonstration was done for the client and they agreed that only the Barco XLM HD30 is up for the task.”
A total of four Barco XLM HD30 was used to cover the entire front facade of the throne hall, centrally managed with Barco's Projector Toolset. Video link from playback to projectors was done through fiber optical system and a DVI matrix system was employed to provide switching between primary and backup playback system.
To avoid distorting the video content and images, a projection mapping technique had to be built around compositing the actual façade of the throne hall itself. A custom built playback system was responsible for the mapping of the images onto the composite itself. By fine tuning the vectors/ wireframe on the composite, distortion is kept to a minimum.
The heady mix of orchestra music, tunes sung by a choir and the larger than life images of the revered King on the throne hall was not lost on the audience. They were woken up from their reverie by the mellifluous popping of fireworks that signified the end to the nightly show. The show was seen by at least one million people over the week. http://www.ctasiapacific.com/
"4D Light & Sound Installation" by Philipp Geist
Artist concept facade installation by Studio Philipp Geist
""4D Light & Sound Installation"" by Philipp Geist (http://www.videogeist.de)
Place:Ananta Smakhom Throne Hall (Bangkok / Thailand)
Date: 5th December - 13rd December 2009
Artist concept facade installation by Studio Philipp Geist
Der Berliner Künstler Philipp Geist (33) bespielt anlässlich des 82. Geburtstages von König Bhumibol, dem weltweit am längsten regierenden Monarchen, vom 5. bis 13. Dezember die Fassade des Königspalastes in Bangkok.
Die circa einstündige Video-Performance, zentraler Bestandteil der Feierlichkeit, bei der tausende Besucher erwartet werden, interpretiert künstlerisch das Leben des Königs und dessen Arbeit zum Wohle des Volkes. Die Kunstinstallation verbindet dokumentarische Darstellungen des Monarchen und seine von ihm initiierten gemeinnützigen Projekte, mit 3-D-Animationen thailändischer Natur- und Kulturschätze, sowie abstrakt-malerische Passagen.
Der Künstler Philipp Geist dazu:
'Es ist für mich eine große Ehre, für diesen besonderen Anlass als Künstler nach Bangkok eingeladen worden zu sein. Die beauftragte Agentur suchte einen Künstler, der bereits mit großen Fassaden-Installationen Erfahrung hat und gleichzeitig mit einem künstlerischen Ansatz an die Darstellung verschiedener Themen herangeht. Ich hatte die Absicht, sowohl mit figurativen als auch abstrakt-malerischen Filmsequenzen die erfolgreiche Verbindung von Tradition und Moderne im Wirken des Königs darzustellen. So setze ich Natur- und Kulturschätze, die ich vor Ort recherchiert und fotografiert habe, in meine eigene Bildsprache um, und bette sie in teils minimal-puristische, teils farbintensive, traumartige und schemenhaft-zerbrechlichen Bildkompositionen ein.'
Die Fassadeninstallation greift die Dreidimensionalität des Throns auf, betont die architektonische Struktur, um sie im nächsten Moment wieder aufzuheben. Es entsteht ein Wechselspiel zwischen der Tiefe des Gebäudes, figurativen Elementen, ungegenständlichen Formen und unterschiedlichen Rhythmen, Farben und Strukturen.
Die 3-D-Animationen entstanden in Zusammenarbeit mit WeAreChopChop & VfxBase. Das Mapping, also das exakte Zuschneiden der Gesamtkompositionen auf den Palast, wurde technisch umgesetzt von einer Partnerfirma aus Frankreich Digital Slaves. Die Projektion mithilfe modernster Computer- und Lichttechnik und den derzeit leistungsstärksten Videoprojektoren übernimmt der Technik-Partner der letzten Olympischen Spiele in China. Ein weiterer Bestandteil der Darbietungen ist ein Dokumentationsfilm über den König, der von einem thailändischen Team erstellt wurde. Konzeption und Koordination der Feierlichkeiten liegen bei den Kreativagenturen Kaiser Communications und Fresh Air Festival aus Bangkok.
Musikalisch begleitet wird die Installation von einem großen Orchester aus 128 internationalen Musikern, das extra für dieses Ereignis zusammengestellt wurde, und von einem 100-köpfigen Chor. Ein volles Programm inklusive Tanzeinlagen sorgen für ein gigantisches, einmaliges Erlebnis.
Philipp Geist zeigte international bereits viele Fassadeninstallationen, unter anderem bespielte er 2007 in Rom das Museum für moderne Kunst, den Palazzo delle Esposizioni, und 2008 das Berliner Kulturforum zur Langen Nacht der Museen. 2010 folgen eine Fassadeninstallation und eine Einzelausstellung in Richmond/USA sowie eine große Fassadeninstallation in Montreal/Kanada.
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Credits
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"4D Light & Sound Installation" by Philipp Geist
Artist concept facade installation by Studio Philipp Geist
