Korean-headquartered d’strict produced this digital architecture via “anamorphic illusion.” As it’s been making the rounds, let’s look at what’s going on – and yeah, move over, projection mapping.
The accelerating commoditization of LED walls – and their particular presence in rapidly-expanding Asia – is making a new kind of architecturally expanded reality.
This particular illusion is just especially compelling:
The creative team, who have offices in Seoul, Jeju, and now in Shanghai as their Chinese outpost, are now in the business of licensing this sort of material to these digital canvases. As they describe this piece:
We, dstrict specializes in designing, making, and delivering breathtaking visual content on Digital Out of Home.
In order to offer the world a new experience, we are proud to announce some exciting new business – IP licensing.
Our first case of IP licensing, ‘WAVE’ with anamorphic illusion has been successfully revealed on a magnificent DOOH of COEX K-POP SQUARE, the largest & high-definition outdoor advertising screen in S.Korea at 80.1m (w) x 20.1M (h).
We aim to develop numerous attractive visual content that can be licensed into any size and shape of the screen consistently.
And yes, this sounds suitably more lucrative than, uh, libraries of VJ loops and whatnot.
This particular work was shown at the SMTOWN Coex Artium in Seoul. The oceanic particle systems also made an appearance at Nexen UniverCity, also in Seoul.
But that’s a bit more pedestrian. I can predict you would rather do two things:
First –
Make your own anamorphic illusions.
Here are some you can print out on your desk. (Now Stay at Home Office gets serious.)
Okay, but to get slightly more serious, some guides.
The ‘Secret’ to Anamorphic Illusions (which includes some vinyl art and projection)
Adobe talks about how to do it with paint
Technically speaking, anamorphosis is any intentional distortion or optical illusion. I’ve seen claims this is the world’s largest but – that’s almost certainly not true, given it would be in competition with, for example, baroque and rococo domes and ceilings. Just off the top of my head, there’s Rome’s Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, which has an enormous trompe l’œil mural on the ceiling.
Suffice to say, though, this installation is the latest evidence that digital art continues to be a neo-rococo art form.
Oh, and second –
You definitely want to know that this same design studio worked on the world’s largest K-pop museum.
(Sorry, no segue between those two things. Still – vital information.)
d’strict worked on the interactive installations and it looks amazing.
Okay. Let’s go Jeju. Once there’s international travel again, of course. I mean, heck, I’ll also quarantine for two weeks so I can safely enter PLAY KPOP. I just need an Instagram boy/girlfriend to document this, naturally.
And yes, it looks like there’s a lot more anamorphosis and other illusory techniques involved.
There. Brought that full circle.
http://www.dstrict.com/en_about