The digiTal agora l’agora...

POLICY OPTIONSMAY-JUNE 2014


16 17OPTIONS POLITIQUESMAI-JUIN 2014

OPTIONS POLITIQUESMAI-JUIN 2014

16 17

The digiTal agora l’agora

numérique

Moment Factory lit up the Grey Cup Village in Montreal in 2008 by lending the various zones on the site unique “lighting signatures,” with images representing the city’s urban reality. Standing out from the nightlights of Montreal, the village was surrounded by an illuminated fence. Photo: MoMent FaCtory (Montreal)

Digital technology is changing the experience of public spaces, where lights can dance and screens deliver a dynamic, immersive experience. Is this just public entertainment? or will it change the politics of public space?

l’espace public se transforme sous l’effet des technologies numériques, qui font valser lumières et écrans pour créer une expérience immersive. S’agit-il de divertissement ou du renouvellement politique de l’espace public ?





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Since last fall, visitors arriving in the renovated tom Bradley International terminal laX (los angeles) walk through a hall in which screens show colourful landscapes from the airport’s destinations, alongside the iconography of la — from the beaches to the hollywood sign. Designed by Montreal’s avant-garde Moment Factory, which has produced public spectacles in squares from Barcelona to Calgary, the main hall becomes an immersive, multimedia interactive space in which light columns react to passenger movement, where hours of visual candy is displayed on massive, elevated storyboard screens and a time tower in the centre evokes the spirit of the silent movie era.

the laX installation shows the new possibilities for public spaces. around the world, urban designers are experimenting with software to usher in a new age of the agora. For some, the aim is to create events and collective experiences, to promote beauty and to entertain (the dazzling show at laX is a welcome change from the high-end-brand

uch history has been shaped in public squares. the square is where people have gathered across the ages to share ideas and entertainment, to debate and dance, to demand change and celebrate it when it comes. Public squares originated in the Greek agora, but our identification with the public square crosses time and cultures: tiananmen in Beijing. tahrir in Cairo. Zuccotti Park in new york. the recent uprisings, from taksim in Istanbul to Maidan in Kiev. like battlefields and temples, public squares are where we go to express what it means to be human.

For centuries, the look of the public square has remained much the same, but the revolutionary impact of digital technology now has the square in its gaze. Massive computing power, advances in lighting and high-definition screens allow us to transform public spaces into multimedia hubs that change the experience of being there. these immersive technologies offer a dynamic, augmented reality. they enable people to interact with art and architecture and offer magical moments not only in public squares, but everywhere people gather: airports and museums, on bridges and in downtown corridors and stadiums.

pornography that defines so many modern terminals). others see an opening to rescue public spaces from decay.

But the rush of technology to redefine our physical world also raises political questions. Who controls the messages of this powerful, immersive technology? the crowd, capable of democratic urges, but also of mob rule? the authorities, always eager for ways to control a message or better survey their citizens? hackers? or, on the brighter side, does the technology offer an opportunity to foster reconciliation in postconflict zones, to assist the recovery after disasters, and connect the present city and generation to the past and those who have left? Jan edlers, a founder of the Berlin-based realities:united, which incorporates new media into urban architectural projects, says the question is, “will it be purely for fun or will it be political?” We are only just beginning to ask.

- Bruce Wallace

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PhotoS: toM BraDley terMInal at laX, MoMent FaCtory

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In linz, austria, anybody can play on the interactive leD facade of the Fassadenterminal, changing the colours and arranging the tiles, like an architectural-scale kaleidoscopic rubix cube. It is the home of the ars electronica Center, a digital “museum” of the future, where the emphasis is on interaction and participation. PhotoS: arS eleCtronICa (lInZ)





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realities:united created BIX, a “communicative display skin” on the east facade of the Kunsthaus in Graz, austria: 930 circular fluorescent light tubes are integrated into 900 square metres of the Plexiglas facade, where images and films can be displayed.toP Photo: ©2003 harry SChIFFer leFt Photo: ©2003 Paul ott By CourteSy oF realItIeS:unIteD (BerlIn), StuDIo For art anD arChIteCture





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Ode à la vie on the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, captivated spectators over three days in 2012 with a spectacular 14- minute show that added sound, light and colour to the fantastic facade of Gaudi’s multi-spired cathedral. It was created by Moment Factory for the cities of Barcelona and Montreal. PhotoS: MoMent FaCtory





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Crystal Mesh by realities:united lights up the Iluma building complex in Singapore. It is a complicated matrix arrangement of modules, some lit by fluorescent light tubes forming “active patches” that at night illuminate the luminous, jewel-like facades. PhotoS: realItIeS:unIteD





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Sender is a “retrained” automobile manufacturing robot located on an empty building, literally in the middle of nowhere in Bergkamen, Germany, that sends out signals to — nobody — using a flag during the day and a light sabre at night. an art installation by realities:united, functioning, but with no beginning and no end.PhotoS: © 2013 PhIllIP KaMInIaK, By CourteSy oF realItIeS:unIteD





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Big Vortex, which will send smoke rings 30 metres in diameter and 6 metres high that represent half a ton of fossil carbon dioxide over Copenhagen as a reminder of our Co2 emissions, is the ingenious environmental message of realities:united. It will be a waste-to-energy plant, and also a ski slope.IlluStratIon: realItIeS:unIteD

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