The massive Main Building of the University of Debrecen started to breathe, turn, spin, collapse, restore itself, and even move away slightly during the course of the Thursday night projection session. The peculiarity of the show performed by Zsolt László Bordos, Ivó Kovács, Viktor Vicsek, Gábor Kitzinger and László Czigány lies in the fact that, instead of a plain canvas or screen, they use the 3D-surface of a building to project animated images on it. Among these images, we experience optical illusions of moving plants and flowers or the human brain and the nervous system added to the static objects of the building surfaces in short 2-minute clips.
Elaborating on the original concept, Zsolt László Bordos explained that, soon after the 2006 inauguration of this genre, a number of clichés were created, mostly about collapsing buildings, which either burned down or were saved from the flames and rebuilt, which resulted in a lot of similar projection sessions. In order to avoid falling into this trap, he and the four other artists decided to create a special combination of elements, in which each one of them can show where exactly they are now in their own individual creative processes.
The five artists involved had more than six months to prepare for this session. Four months ago, they mapped the building with a laser scanner, and then started working on the animation sequences for almost one and a half months. For this special performance, they use a 12K resolution combined with a unique projection technique: the light power supplied by the 6 individual 4K-res projectors is 30 thousand ANSI Lumens each (while an average office projector could produce around 2 or 3 thousand ANSI Lumens at most).
Concerning the 108-meter-wide façade of the University of Debrecen, Zsolt László Bordos noted that it belongs to an imposing edifice, which could serve as genuine inspiration for all projection mapping artists due to its sheer size and proportions.
“This kind of architecture, which is so generous concerning proportions, is favorable for purposes of video mapping. As our vision is also basically horizontal, this kind of arrangement is well-balanced and aesthetically appealing to the human eye. Widescreen and HD-resolution are also easier on our visual sensation. From this aspect, we can safely say that the Main Building is ideally proportionate,” said the artist.
The five spectacular projection clips are going to be on a looping display starting at 9 p.m. on August 19. Should you miss the first session, you can still catch the rerun four times an hour up until midnight, appearing in 3D on the surface of the Main Building of the University of Debrecen.
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