555 KUBIK
"If a house were to be imagined, what would it be like?" The project is born from the theoretical understanding and visual model of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. The massive structure of the building's front, shaped by Ungers' idea of rigid rationalism, gives the viewer a sense of distance. The central idea of the narrative is to break and fragment the rigid architecture of O.M. Ungers' "Galerie der Gegenwart". The permeability of the resulting solid front brings different interpretations expressed through perception, geometry, aesthetics, graphics, and movement. Through the building, a state of thinking evolves that defines the broad perception and structure of this space.
Scutum Calx
Recently, Israel hosted an international light festival. From Turkey, Nerdworking participated with a video mapping project that could be viewed through 3D glasses. Erdem Dilbaz and Saygın Şoher explain the project as follows: "Nerdworking will use the transition between abstraction and the realization of stone architecture. This effort is aimed at creating an incredible journey for the viewer, spanning from the non-existence of space to the creation of the world, from the years of destruction the building has experienced to its rebirth and liberation. The viewer experiences a stereoscopic story of the building."
NOHlab
Could you tell us a little about NOHlab and yourself? The NOHlab team consists of Deniz Kader and Candaş Şişman at its core. Our collaboration dates back to 1999. We studied plastic arts in high school and later completed our university education in animation and moving images. During our university years, we had the opportunity to work on multimedia design in the Netherlands for a year. During this time, we had the chance to observe many new media festivals and works in the Netherlands. We gathered this knowledge from a long process and brought it together under the name NOHlab in 2011. We have a structure that encompasses many different disciplines. We create works in the field of new media by combining multiple disciplines. The fields we develop projects in include animation, short films, video mapping, spatial design, audiovisual performance, and installation art. Some of the brands and institutions we have worked with include Chanel, Pink Floyd, Ars Electronica Festival, Istanbul 2010 Agency, Nike, Land Rover, TedX, and the Scriabin Museum.
People got to know you through the Yekpare project, but you also have other video mapping projects. Could you tell us a bit about the projects you've worked on, and what do you have planned for the future or currently? Yekpare is indeed our most well-known work. There are other reasons behind this recognition aside from its experiential dimension or aesthetic criteria. It is a project that was witnessed by many different people in Istanbul. We carried out the project within the scope of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture events, using the facade architecture of Haydarpaşa Train Station. No project of this scale had been carried out on such a large surface in an open space in Turkey before. For us as well, Yekpare was the first project where we applied the video mapping technique and experienced it. Haydarpaşa is a building that holds significant values in terms of its history, location, mission, and architecture.
Using this well-known and valued structure to create a project was, we can say, a dream come true for us. The work garnered more interest than we anticipated and was later featured again as the closing performance of the Capital of Culture events. Due to the experiential perception created by the mapping technique, we produced many commercial projects following offers from brands and organizations. We believe that when applied consciously, this technique is an effective tool in terms of the experience it leaves on the viewer, and the negative examples of the technique do not diminish this effect. In addition to commercial projects, we aim to create works that can take the technique to different levels in artistic contexts. Some of our projects in this area include: "Lucifer's Fall," a theater performance in a historically significant cathedral in the Netherlands in 2012, "Sound & Light" (Ses ve Işık), a performance we conducted in collaboration with the State Polyphonic Choir using a three-dimensional construction surface designed in the same year, and "Under An Alias," a video mapping project we carried out at the Franz Liszt Music School in Weimar with talented designers contributing to the production and design. A few of the plans and projects on our calendar include a kinetic sculpture project to be carried out in a public space in Istanbul. We hope that we will have the chance to bring this pioneering permanent project to life in Turkey. In addition, we hope to further develop our real-time visual-producing software, the NOS Visual Engine, which we have been working on and developing for over two years, and use it in performance projects and installations. Additionally, we are pleased to share that we have recently been invited to the Europalia Festival, one of Europe's oldest festivals, and we are preparing for an audiovisual performance. Our long-term plan is to take our studio abroad and produce more international projects.
How do you evaluate video mapping as a medium? Does the relationship you, as artists, have with the medium and the way you see it differ from those who do it for entertainment (shows)? Can you describe the process you go through technically?
By making the boundaries of the two different realities we define digitally and physically more transparent, we try to make them feed off each other and, thus, create a hybrid reality. Furthermore, we believe that these two definitions will increasingly overlap, and this situation is part of the natural evolution, as we witness more and more convergence of the physical and digital worlds. We think the relationship between the digital and physical worlds is a very contemporary issue, and that’s why we try to explore it. Being in such a search, we began to work on video mapping, a technique that can combine a physical surface with a digital layer. The most important point of the video mapping medium for us is the ability to project digital images designed in a numerical environment onto architectural structures and surfaces, which we can call physical, using high-powered projectors and some software, and to combine two different realities. As a result, we can create a hybrid reality and manipulate people's perceptions of space, time, and reality. In this sense, we view video mapping as a very powerful tool. We do not see our relationship with this medium as one aimed at entertaining people but as a tool in our conceptual, artistic, and design exploration. As mentioned earlier, this medium is a result of our desire to establish a connection between reality and virtuality, and to manipulate reality. Therefore, we do not see video mapping as just a tool for shows or entertainment.
We see video mapping as an artistic form of expression that places time and space at its core. Because we approach video mapping from this perspective, the projects we create are more conceptual. Every video mapping project we undertake has a strong relationship with the architecture, history, and usage of the space. We try to convey our narratives to the audience through a cinematographic language. Additionally, the images we use contain more abstract visuals rather than concrete elements, meaning we prefer a more symbolic language of expression. Alongside the visual aspect, we also pay great attention to the auditory experience and strive to create a synesthetic experience.
An example of our symbolic narrative is our video mapping work UNDER AN ALIAS, which we carried out on the Franz Liszt School of Music building in Weimar in 2012. The theme of the project was the city's century-old history. Instead of using visual images for the "subconscious" section of the scenes we designed, we chose to leave the building surface empty and bring it to life with only darkness and sound.
The technical process we experience can vary from project to project, but it always starts with preliminary studies aimed at understanding the surface we will be covering. At the same time, we plan the content and flow of the story. The architectural form guides us in determining the kind of content we need to create. Afterward, we create a template for the surface in technical terms (3D modeling, which parts of the surface will be covered by visuals, etc.), and based on this template, we proceed with visual production. We then project these visuals onto the surface and use various software to align the images on the surface, much like dressing a piece of clothing. We dress the building in a digital outfit, and the process is complete.
How do you evaluate the relationship between video mapping and architectural structures, beyond a flat surface?
Video mapping allows our work to move beyond monitors or cinema screens, transforming into a more physical form, and it adds an experiential dimension to the work with different perspectives. One of the most important elements of this technique is shaping and crafting the visual content specifically for the surface to be applied. When it comes to architectural structures, since your application area in mapping projects is the space or the surface of the space itself, the content you design must be unique to the space. The impact of this technique actually comes from this factor. Observing a familiar and known structure in a dynamic and living form breaks our perception and allows us to observe and feel it from different angles. Using elements of the architecture in the building as storytelling components makes the work inherently tied to the architectural structure. Therefore, the stronger the aesthetic and inspirational impact of the architectural design on the people around it, the greater the experience and effect of the work created using video mapping techniques.
YEKPARE
Yekpare, 2010, Projection Mapping Performance, 15' 52''
Production: Nerdworking
Art & Design: Candaş Şişman & Deniz Kader
Haydarpaşa Train Station - Istanbul
Lucifer Vall
Lucifer's Fall-2012, Theatre Performance, 130'00''
NOHlab & EA Theatre
St. Michael’s Chapel of the Domtower, Utrecht - Netherlands
Photo by Deniz Kader
Content: Tasarım Group
