Alter-Projects, as the lead Curator for A/D/O by MINI curated ‘Perpetuum’ an installation by Amsterdam based Random Studio and designed for the MINI Electric Experience event which took place at A/D/O in Brooklyn on December 10, 2019.
Random Studio's installation under the periscope at A/D/O simulates a journey for visitors without them having to leave the spot.
Driving through a city as a passenger can be a meditative experience. Staring out the window as scene after scene blurs past in layers, blending colors, textures and muffled sounds into a cinematic journey, is simultaneously mesmerizing and eye-opening. Remember one of the key sequence from the movie Lost in Translation?
The studio’s design comprises curved panels suspended from three concentric metal rails. The panels are programmed to travel around the rails at different speeds, mimicking the effect of traveling past objects at staggered distances. A light in the center shines through and between the moving partitions, producing ever-changing reflections and shadows.
The installation also incorporates sound recordings of city hubbub. The Random Studio team took audio clips from their home city of Amsterdam, providing a juxtaposition to the noises of New York City when played through speakers hidden in the framework. Visitors are encouraged to find their own path through the dynamic setting to its center, where the full effect can be experienced.
“The installation creates a meditative abstraction of a city in perpetual motion,” said Daan Lucas founder of Random Studio. “Three rotating rings orbit around a central light sculpture, generating countless overlapping compositions, layering impression over impression. Drifting through this ‘third’ space, the viewer's experience changes from moment to moment, enhanced by an ambient patchwork of urban sounds.”
Standing in the center of Perpetuum, surrounded by the combination of the rotating panels, light effects and soundscape, a visitor receives a 360-degree, multi-stimuli experience that Random hopes will take them on a journey without having to leave the spot.
Perpetuum will remain on view in the atrium at A/D/O until March 10, 2020. Text by Dan Howarth. Photography by Daniel Seung Lee.