If there is one thing Hungary is becoming known for, it is how this neoclassical, landlocked country is unexpectedly becoming the capital of projection mapping artists. Four prominent groups which hail from Budapest are considered among the top 10 projection artists in the world, and Limelight, which has created the "Beautiful Bangkok" 3D mapping currently showing on the Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard, is also one of those pioneers.
At this festive time of year, there is no better direction to set your eyes than on this newly erected luxury condo on Ratchadamri Road, which will also be home to the Waldorf Astoria hotel. A light spectacular will be showing every day on the 60-storey building to celebrate its grand opening and to end the year with a celebratory note -- featuring what is beautiful about Bangkok through the eyes of this international artist collective.
Istvan David, one of the founders of Limelight, launched the group in 2006 when the art form was still in its infancy. It is the first time Limelight has arrived on Southeast Asian shores, but the world-class group has long been winning awards and participating in light festivals around the world, shining their projections onto grand structures from the Strasbourg Cathedral to the University of Debrecen. Muse talks to the 44-year-old about the world of projection mapping and what he likes most about it.
The 'Beautiful Bangkok' mapping on Magnolias Ratchaprasong Boulevard. photo courtesy of polyPlus
How did you start working with projection mapping?
I had a good friend and his girlfriend was a painter. They had the idea of projecting her paintings onto buildings and that's how it started about 15 years ago. First we were working in a way that we projected paintings onto buildings with slide projectors, meaning that they were static projections, more like a decoration on the building. But back then, it was still difficult to precisely map these things onto the buildings because those slide projectors were the ones that got things distorted. That's how I got together with Viktor, who I established Limelight with. He was the first to develop software and he's an artist and programmer as well, so we sort of became pioneers in mapping.
Is projection mapping something anyone can just do, with so many technology advancements today?
I would say it has become easier to do a projection on buildings because there is lot of cheap software you can buy -- even university students can do it. But at the same time, there are still a few groups that have the experience and the ability to create really high-quality artworks because there are parts that you cannot learn in school. There are a lot of great groups creating beautiful animations but there is a big difference when creating animations for a movie theatre widescreen. It's possible to create the best artwork or animation but it can look really bad on a building. That's something you can only learn from experience, because projecting on different surfaces, colours and circumstances -- some things work well but some don't. Even the projectors have a lot of technical specifications and only certain colours look really good but others don't.
What do you think makes for memorable mapping?
It's important for us that what we do is much more than just creating a movie and projecting it onto a building. With the way we create our artwork, the building or façade has a very important role and its architectural elements and characteristics are integrated into the artwork. I would say it is augmented reality: there is a static structure which is the building that we take and make it alive. Nowadays, we can see a lot of projection mappings around the world. Many of them just project something onto huge surfaces but most of the time those things that are projected have nothing to do with the surface.
What is the concept behind 'Beautiful Bangkok'?
It was really a challenge to make a four or five minute artwork from so many things that we would like to squeeze in. It's not really a storyline, but follows one day. We start early morning with sunrise and finish at night, which for me, is saying that Bangkok is a city that's alive 24 hours, but has different faces during the day and evening. We really wanted to integrate some strong local symbols, so we redesigned the Hanuman mask. What I really loved when I was researching was that in the Thai arts scene, it's like a common thing to take the symbols or traditional elements and to really design them in a modern way, and that's what we did with Hanuman. There's a mask that you will see with UV colours at night but in the day it's got a more traditional look so it's a symbol for the way the city transforms all the time.
What were some of the challenges of this project?
One thing that was really surprising for us is in this kind of city, you usually have a lot of buildings with lots of lights. Doing a project in Manhattan is really hard because you need to use three times more projectors to achieve the same brightness, so it was really surprising but good news for us that here in Bangkok, you have those nice, huge skyscrapers but they're all dark at night and not lit up. However, it was a bit hard to work with because there is not a certain viewpoint for everybody. It's a big building and looks totally different from different angles yet it has to look good for someone who looks at it from a sky bar as well as from someone down on the streets. There isn't one certain point so we have to try to design it in a way that it looks good everywhere and is easy to understand. There is the square by CentralWorld and if you look from there, there is another building in front that is covering the bottom part so we have to create the artwork in a way that people who have the bottom part covered don't feel they see things that are half cut.
What is the most fun thing about your job?
The most fun thing is when you work on a building's artwork and all that time, you create the artwork on a small monitor. So the building is like at elbow's length for months, and then it becomes huge and real. What I like the most personally is watching the audience and trying to feel their reactions. It's really different everywhere we go around the world. When I see the feelings or emotions generated [by our projections], I feel like something of a rock star.
People these days are stimulated all the time. Has it become harder today to create something that will attract people's attention?
The wow factor is not a goal for us to achieve. I would say our main goal is to inspire people. If we just manage to take someone away from the TV or from the phone for five minutes and give art to people who probably would never go to an art gallery, that is one of the most beautiful things with projecting onto buildings that are on the street. It's really something because you have a lot of things coming through to you through digital devices, but when you just walk by and see 50 storeys with a huge projection on them, at least you stop for a couple of minutes and have a look at it. I hope it can give you a bit of a different perspective and get you out of your everyday routine. I think art is the perfect tool to get you out of your everyday life and how 21st century people live. Sit down or just stop by for five minutes and look at something that is art, which gives you some emotions and feelings. If that happens, we are fine and happy and feel that we gave something to the world.
Watch the Beautiful Bangkok mapping until Dec 31, with showtimes at 7pm, 7.15pm, 7.30pm, 7.45pm and 8pm. On Dec 31, catch the countdown at 11.55pm.
