Author Archives: mariazibba

Nakanoshima Children’s Book Forest

Fragments of books. Kodomo Honnomori Nakanoshima.

A paradise for kids and adults needing to escape the reality of screens: This is the gift the famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando gave his hometown. In the center of Osaka, on the Island of the Dojimagawa River in the Nakanoshima Park, is a building meant for kids: the “Kodomo Honnomori Nakanoshima” or “Nakanoshima children’s book forest”. It is filled with books, from top to bottom, left to right, ceiling to floor. Opened to anyone since July 2020.

Entering the Book Forest means entering a beautiful three-story atrium with walls covered with books. There are two main parts to the building, the library and the terrace: To move from one world to the other, the visitors have to pass through two concrete silos accessed on the first floor. The bare walls on the inside are used for a dynamic projection show “Fragments of books” that was created by Rhizomatiks.

The “Fragments” are short sentences, or aphorisms, taken from different books, brought to life through an immersive dynamic projection show. The design is sober, colours are avoided to leave as much space to imagination as possible.

Characters are moving everywhere on the 12 meter high projection surface, taking advantage of it all. Opening a book will trigger a beautifully designed experience, integrating perfectly into the immersive architecture. A perfect visual way to capture someone’s curiosity and interest them in a book.

This library isn’t just an innovation on an architectural aspect, but as well as a library. Thanks to BACH, instead of having the books arranged by genre or age-range, they’re organised in a way to trigger spontaneity and curiosity in the visitor’s mind. The titles are organised into 12 categories such as « Play with nature » or « For those who like animals » and dispatched over 3 floors. The library offers intimate corners for readers to fall in love with their books in the perfect surrounding. The architectural design and its curved walls offers an immersion into a colourful and harmonious universe, all around books.

The aphorisms are everywhere, as “Sculpture of words” are displayed all around the library and the garden. The big “Blue Apple” on the terrace is a gift from Tadao Ando. In his designs, he plays with opposite forces and tension to create an  “atmospheric simplicity in the spatial complexity”. For this project, he drew a curve opposing the bend of the river.

“I imagined the form to be the arch of a bow moments before an arrow is launched”  says Tadao Ando.

You might know him better for others of his countless works, such as the “Church of Light”, the “Pulitzer Arts Foundation” or the “Chichu Art Museum”. After many international exhibitions and guest appearances at the Yale and Harvard Universities, he has been teaching at the Tokyo University for over 20 years.

Credits

  • Creative direction and direction: Ayahiko Sato (Rhizomatiks Design)
  • Art direction and direction: Yuto Nakamura (MARUKAJIRI)
  • Animation: Naoki Oishi (Big!), Shuhei Ohashi
  • Illustration: Takuma Fukuzawa
  • Music: Noboru Mutoh
  • Projection coordination: Tomoya Kishimoto
  • Sound coordination: Shinichi Minami (CLAMP), Kenji Ouchi (sound design.)
  • Construction: Mono Conception Products
  • Equipment cooperation: Universal Business Technologies Corp.
  • Videographer for recap video: Timothée Lambrecq
  • Comprehensive produce and book selection cooperation: BACH
  • Projector: Optoma ZH506
  • Mirror Head: MH08-506L
  • Media Server: MDC-X2

Thirst for Knowledge – Skullmapping invades another gallery

Thirst for knowledge – Rediscover the Renaissance with Skullmapping

Skullmapping’s team amazed the visitors of yet another Museum with a permanent exhibition at The Museum Hof van Busleyden. The Renaissance had its fair share of innovations: rediscovering nature, its pattern and rules, mapping the world and charting undiscovered territories. The 15th and 16th century mark the beginning of Arts and Science walking hand in hand and the rebirth of the Human creative mind. What better way to compliment the exhibition than with an innovation proper to our time?

Inspired by the biggest names of this time period, Da Vinci, Vesalius, Dodoens, Copernicus, Dürer and many others, Skullmapping used the storytelling skills of Filip Sterckx (Writer & Director) and the Mirror Head to show what it meant to be an artist back then.

One dynamic projector – Panasonic RZ470 – coupled with a Mirror Head MH09-L and a fixed projector sufficed to render the exhibition interactive.

This project is on permanent display at Museum Hof van Busleyden https://www.hofvanbusleyden.be/

 

3D Modeling & Animation Filip Sterckx, Antoon Verbeeck, Birgit Sterckx, Paulina Zybinska

Client Hof van Busleyden

Technical Installation EXPOd + Tempora https://skullmapping.com/

 

Bruegel’s very own Renaissance – Skullmapping

Bruegel’s very own Renaissance – Skullmapping

Skullmapping about the dynamic projection.

“The Mirror Head is a lot of fun to play around with and creatively, there still are a lot of possibilities that have not been touched, I definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in mapping or augmented reality. All of us have become used to seeing mapping projects on all types of objects, but to see characters moving freely over multiple walls, ceiling and even floors with just one projector and a discreet setup is magical!”

Skullmapping is strong in the cultural scene: creating yet another great experience at the Brussels Airport rediscovering Bruegel. After bringing colour to his engravings and life to his creatures, a beautiful hyperlapse will walk you through the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, to discover the location of the original painting “The Fall of the Rebel Angels’.

With the Panasonic PT-RZ21K laserprojector and the Mirror Head MH14, Skullmapping managed yet another storytelling prowess, to entertain the travellers at the Brussel’s airport 7 days a week for a whole year.

Written and directed by Filip Sterckx, 3D Modeling and animation Filip Sterckx, Antoon Verbeeck, Birgit Sterckx, Paulina Zybinska, Cedric Hermans for Toerisme Vlaanderen.

National Museum of Natural Science – Taiwan, the beautiful island

Taiwan – The beautiful Island inside a Museum

An homage to the sacred nature of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, meaning the beautiful Island: In order to raise awareness on the environmental changes, the National Museum of Natural Science recreated the beauty of nature indoors.

 

Walking through this interactive exhibition, you will discover the daily life of the leopard that fled human presence and pollution. Recreating what only 50 years of Human evolution destroyed, the exhibition represents the diversity and flourishing biosphere that is now lost.

 

Thanks to the team of Bright Ideas Design Co. Ltd. in Taipei and the help of the Mirror Head, the life and routine of the leopard is once more palpable.

The Wizard of Oz – Mirror Head Takes Centre Stage

The Wizard of Oz – Experience the magic of the Mirror Head

The Wizard of Oz at Leeds Playhouse. Photographs by Other Richard.

The Mirror Head MH11L takes centre stage in Simon Wainwright’s video design for the extremely successful Wizard of Oz at Leeds Playhouse. The production has run from the 20th of November 2019 and closes on the 25th of January a run of over 60 performances.

Wizard of Oz was the first show in the newly refurbished Quarry Theatre. The story required a range of video sequences that needed to move around the stage or appear in a variety of locations within the set.

Thanks to the Mirror Head MH11, provided by Polestar Productions, paired with a Panasonic PT-RZ12K fully controlled by a Disguise video server allowing total integration into the video and Lighting design. The crew of the Wizard of Oz was able to use the dynamic projection range to create fascinating effects for the iconic moments of the play: The yellow brick road was moving with the actors, the Tornado took Dorothy to the land of Oz and the head of the Wizard made its breathtaking appearance in the Emerald City.

Backstage shots by Polestar Productions.

Samsung 30th Anniversary – Budapest

Samsung 30th Anniversary – One giant leap for Mankind in Budapest

For the opening of their flag ship store, on their 30th anniversary, Samsung Hungary dazzled spectators with special light painting over the facade of the Paris Courtyard in Budapest, thanks to the Mirror Head.

 

Big scale building projection orchestrated by our talented partner Visual Power Kft., with the help of the PR Agency Flow PR Hungary, the visual Studio Centrum Production and under the direction of Dániel Besnyő, art director and coordinator of the project.

Two Mirror Heads MH18 with Panasonic PT-RZ31K and MDC-X2 Media Server and Coolux Pandoras Box were used to project the amazing animation of Máté Makláry, with Sound FX by Kiss Patrik (Ssik Kirtap).

Cupid flies in Brussels Airport – Rubens goes dynamic

Skullmapping strikes again – Rubens’ Cupid coming to life

If you happened to be at Brussels Airport, you might have noticed an angel flying around! As part of a campaign by Visit Flanders to attract more people to have interest in art and visit museums, a Mirror Head was installed at the airport in Belgium.

 

Skullmapping, the renowned duo, crafted a perfect augmented reality show and was one more time able to attract the attention of travelers going from one gate to another, as well as passengers waiting for a delayed flight. Discovering Rubens under this new light is the perfect way to capture the interest of any bypasser: Rubens’ work is timeless, this is the perfect reminder.

Rubens Cupid

Wadden Sea Center. Dynamic Culture.

Wadden Sea Center. Dynamic Projection in the cultural scene.

 

No Parking Production has implemented quite an incredible example of what the Mirror Head Technology could do to promote museums and culture in general.

Thanks to the wide projection range of the Mirror Head, the whole exhibition room could display bits of history for the guests of the Wadden Sea Center – from the first viking settlers to modern day tourism, the whole historical evolution of the region was depicted in dynamic animated projections. The visuals were accompanied by an audio composition, guaranteeing an immersive family friendly journey through culture and history.

Wadden Sea Center
Wadden Sea Center

 

No Parking Production is a multimedia agency based in Denmark, specialised, among other things, in large scale prototyping. They created a comprehensive new cultural exhibition for the Wadden Sea Center to give back its vibrance to history.

Spooky Halloween in York.

Spooky Halloween in York. Creatures of the Shadows.

 

The ‘Creatures of the Shadows’ project in York (UK) showcased dynamic big scale projections of paranormal creatures appearing out of the shadows onto buildings, fitting to the spooky atmosphere of the city, well known as the place of origin of ghost stories.

The York BID‘ (Business Improvement District) organised a free event to add a new attraction to the city for the Halloween Period. Created for the people who live, work or study in York, the event took place on two sites – Castle Museum and Library Square – in the city center, offering an incredible show of projections for 3 nights in a row.

This type of system is usually used in cinemas and theatres. This is the first time it will be used in this country in a city setting. We’ll be using six projectors in total – three at each site. “
Tony Gill of Polestar Productions

York Halloween

York Halloween

York Halloween
York Halloween

 

The Harrogate-based digital projection company Polestar Productions in cooperation with partners created the spectacle, supplied the Mirror Head and produced the event for which ‘The York BID’ wrote an interesting case study.

polestar-productions.uk Event Producer and master mind.
stagesoundservices.co.uk Projectors and data infrastructure.
infocusav.co.uk Servers and programming services.
technicalstageservices.co.uk Logistics, rigging and power distribution.
distantfuture.co.uk Additional animation rendering.

New Taipei City Library goes Dynamic!

New Taipei City Library goes Dynamic! – 動態投影繪本故事屋

Story house of Tomorrow.

Follow the Emerald Tree Frog’s and the Book Monster’s footsteps, roam the beautiful natural scenery and rich cultural landscapes around New Taipei City and lead everyone to travel all over the city in one day. The “Story house of Tomorrow” is directed with a theatrically dynamic projection technology. The audience can not only enjoy the story animation but also interact with the protagonists in the dynamic projection of the scenery.

Animated Story – The Mirror Head technology coupled with a static projection guarantees for a beautiful experience without leaving the room.

Client: New Taipei City Library, Taiwan
Artwork by Bright Ideas for Life www.brightideas.com.tw