Monday, June 4, 2012
THE GERMAN(S) PROJECT
The lighting for this year's Vivid Festival has been the talk of the town. I'll get to see it this Friday and may, or maybe not, get some snaps. In the meantime, here is the German team Urbanscreen - Site Specific Projections - talking about their work and the challenges of working on the Sydney Opera House.
And here is a short look at some of what they achieved. Gasp.
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12 comments:
Sure that shouldn't be "GERMAN(S')"?
I won't get to see it till Sat.
btw, comments now seem to be possible again as the gateway mechanism has changed.
Such a stickler for detail, you could be a lawyer. Fixed. Pleased comments now open; blogger has heaps of new features none of which I have managed to embrace.
Actually, it was meant to be a use of 'project' as noun and verb, so no need for apostrophe at all.
Just a pretext for a comment now that they are possible for me, W.
Several years ago I saw a show at the Portland Museum of Art that displayed the conceptual drawings of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It was fascinating. Not only for the ideas,but the drawings themselves were works of art. I love the scale,whimsy,bizarreness and sense of celebration. I also admire the sense of public art. There a local person here who is known as "The yarn bomber" Under the cover of darkness they adorn public places with works of yarn. I have seen statues exquisitely robed in very well made sweaters. It's fun,temporary and harmless.
Urbanscreen looks amazing. It would be easy to write it off as some techno shenanigans. But listening to the team, made me see their art differently. I especially liked the discussion of it as a "site specific" installation and how the opera house provided many challenges.
This is remarkable--the way they make the building's sails billow and crumple! So thoughtful in the way they talk about it, too. Do you think LePage might learn a thing or two from them, eh? Though I will have to confess I generally liked the Götterdämmerung video work. This reminds me, Roberta Smith wrote the Ring video work here.
Scott, Christo was down here many years ago and wrapped up a section of the Sydney coastline. That was a mighty undertaking and thrilling in its complexity and execution as much as in the actual product. He also has a keen eye for the often overlooked iconic object (if that's not an oxymoron) and in this case really hit on something - our massive craggy interface with the Pacific. In that respect he and Urbanscreen both excel in the same thing - site specificity.
Susan I did see that article, and although I only saw the Gotterdammerung I have to say I think Lepage could learn a thing or two, or three (D) from these guys.
Wanderer- I followed the link. Amazing. And 1969!. The scale and effort incredible. Financed by the sale of some of their personal belongings....
Love that Christo. Glad I took a peak back here to see what was going on. Christo did an incredible orange flags thing in Central Park--many had problems with it, but I and my friends all thought it was spectacular.
W: I was there on Saturday. The crowds were enormous - the concert was delayed 15 minutes because orchestra members and audience couldn't get through in time.
There was a wonderful festive atmosphere - almost totally devoid, I should add, of any displays of public drunkenness, though I wouldn't be surprised if some younger members of the crowd didn't take the opportunity to enhance their experience pharmaceutically.
The concert was good, too!
I know it is invidious to make comparisons, but the scale of the exercise surpassed previous years' efforts and has set a high standard for comparison for future years.
I agree M and am just tapping out a blog post as this comment comes in.
Scott, what incredible indomitable creative spirit they have, all to provoke and reveal by concealing. They did come back to Sydney where they encountered a hurdle unusually high - the flight!.
Susan, I followed that Central Park installation from afar, loving it, and seriously considered trying to get to see it, hindered by the usual, you know, time and money.
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