Time is invisible. Or is it?
For this year's Klanglicht art festival, we had the pleasure of illuminating the city's landmark with the artist duo MO:YA. The multimedia installation "CHRONOS" transformed the Graz clock tower into a light sculpture visible from afar for three evenings. Paired with their own audio composition, the result was a total work of art that blurred the boundaries between physical and virtual reality and made viewers forget about time.
See the unique light installation for yourself.
"Spatial Augmented Reality allows real objects to be overlaid with video projections, using virtual content, to create an illusion that can be perceived by several people together and without technical aids."
An interview with the artists
MO:YA is a creative studio based in Graz and Salzburg, which specialises in immersive audio-visual multimedia projects. Werner Huber and Roland Mariacher are a design team that have already gained the Austrian National Prize for Design for their concepts.
Light and sound – are these two separable dimensions for you?
Synaesthesia of sound, colour and shapes plays an important role in designing our works. The merging of sound and light is the basis of an immersive perception of the viewer. Music is able to stir people on a more emotional level than light on its own.
How important is light for your work?
"Painting with light" is known as a stylistic form of expression in photography. We work according to a similar principle, only in reverse: with video projectors. This allows us to augment both spaces and rigid, three-dimensional objects, such as the clock tower, by re-packaging them, to create an illusion of movement and depth using bespoke 3D animations.
How did you come to collaborate with XAL?
What is your connection to the company? We have had the vision of an immersive display of artistic video projections on all sides of the clock tower for a long time. With this year's concept of the Klanglicht Festival, the opportunity arose to bring this vision to fruition with the support of XAL. There is a close match between our own design aesthetics and the design language and colour scheme of the company's products, which made for a very harmonious collaboration.
How did the concept and collaboration for CHRONOS come into being?
The title CHRONOS refers to both the function of the building as a chronograph and the optical expansion of the spatial dimensions to include the time factor. It is also a central theme of the dramatic composition. The original musical composition by Markus Graf was arranged specifically for this project and is linked to sound recordings from inside the tower, to beat in time with the clockwork mechanism.
How did you start with this work of art and how did you proceed with the project?
A full immersion projection onto detailed objects, such as the clock tower, requires a bit more preparation than projections onto flat surfaces or façades. In terms of design, you always have to think in three dimensions, plus the technical effort also presents a challenge. As early as 2017, we were able to conduct a test projection on one side of the clock tower. We developed a storyline for CHRONOS together with XAL, which forms the basis of the dramatic composition. A 3D model of the building was also created in cooperation with Alexander Friedl, who has access to the original blueprints of the clock tower. This forms the basis for the production of the video animations and the mapping template.
Career paths in a new light
Right next to the artfully staged clock tower, we invited visitors to our XAL stand. Drinks, entertainment and enjoying the show from a deck chair: Visitors took their time out and let us take them on an intense journey of light and sound. In addition, many took the opportunity to stage themselves in our photobooth with our luminaire JANE. If you too would like to learn more about our work or our products, take a look at our careers page.
A special evening
This year, we were able to hold career talks in a very special light at Klanglicht. In the truest sense of the word: right next to the clock tower impressively staged by MO:YA, we were able to offer many visitors information about our career options, how we work and what makes us tick, in addition to regional drinks at our XAL booth. We were thrilled by the great interest, also in the very popular photo location with our luminaire JANE, and thank you for the numerous great conversations. We are already looking forward to the next Klanglicht festival.
