When Goethe-Institute asked us to help shaping the opening ceremonies of the German Year with our illuminations, we were faced with an intriguing challenge: To illustrate the unique German-American friendship, it was our mission to project onto three completely different buildings located in three cities over a period of four days:
The iconic residence of the German ambassador, skillfully designed by Cologne architect Oswald M. Unger, was waiting for us in Washington DC.
In Atlanta, it was the Atlanta-Fulton Central Public Library, the last brutalistic building designed by famous Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer.
In contrast, the Athenæum in Indianapolis comes in neo-Renaissance attire. Originally called “The German House”, it’s the most ornate and best preserved building of the particularly large German-American community of Indianapolis.
Since the buildings have such different characteristics and are located in such varyingly designated cities, we had to find three individual artistical and technical approaches to adapt to them. Only by adjusting our site-specific designs to the various architectures, we could be sure to paint a truly compelling picture of these places.
With WANDERWORT POETRY, we created a piece for Washington that shows the similarities between the German and American language.
The special feature of SUPERPOSITION, shown in Atlanta, was the unification of the plain Bauhaus austerity with recordings of energetic, local hip hop dancers.
In Indianapolis we used a digital, animated collage to portray important personalities of German origin – GERMAN INFLUENCERS – whose work in the USA is of particular significance.
Commissioned by: Goethe Institute Washington DC
Overall Staff
3D-Data-Setup: Thorbjörn Geisler, Moritz Horn, Lukas Neumann
Mockup Construction: Eike Buff & Lukas Neumann
Technical Direction: Sven Rolfes
Projection Engineering: Tobias Wursthorn (Intermediate Engineering)
Production Assistant: Lydia Liedtke
Production Management: Majo Ussat
Guideline concept: Majo Ussat, Till Botterweck
Documentation
Camera: Julian Hölscher, Lukas Neumann, Moritz Horn, Ana Romão
Edit: iona w.
Music: Janis E. Müller and iona w.
Photos: Daniel Dobers
Washington DC: Wanderwort Poetry
Premiere: October 3rd, 2018
Art Direction: Julian Hölscher
Sound Design: iona w.
With the support of Heeresmusikkorps Koblenz under the direction of Bertram Kleis
Technical Supplier on-site: RCI Systems
Foilcovering: Majo Ussat, Timon Fleiter
Atlanta: Superposition
Premiere: October 5th, 2018
Art Direction: Daniel Rossa
Sound Design: iona w.
Dancers: 411South Atlanta
Justin Edwards
Charlotte Posey
Makenzie Collier
Christian Kelly
Shanorris Pollock
Christopher Harris
Chance Mizell
Camera recordings with dancers: iona w. & Daniel Rossa
Eventmanager on-site: Andreas Sengebusch
Technical Supplier on-site: OnServices
Indianapolis: German Influencer
Premiere: October 6th, 2018
Art Direction: Moritz Horn
2D Animation: Ana Romao, José Buenida
Sound Design: Janis E. Müller
Concept Supervisor: Erik Wankerl, Thorsten Bauer
Creative Director: Till Botterweck
Foil and framecovering: Wilhelm Connor
Technical Supplier on-site: ON Services
A heartfelt thank you to Lena Jöhnk, Miriam Bruns and Christoph Mücher from Goethe Institute Washington DC for this very inspiring cooperation. We would also like to thank the German Ambassador, Dr. Emily Margarethe Haber, for her generosity. To the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System and the City Council in Atlanta, as well as Fulton County Arts and Culture, andAndy Solomon from Vault Galery: Thank you for your support. For our work in Indianapolis a great thank you goes to Cassie Stockamp, President of the Atheneum Foundation, the Arts Council of Indianapolis and Kristy Hanson for her support on site. Last but not least thank you Christian Klaus for your hospitality in the Fairmont Washington DC Georgetown.
