As part of the Interactive Architecture event at Eyebeam in January, Marek Walczak spoke about his own work and collaborations with Martin Wattenberg who together make up MW2MW and his collaborations with Jakub Segen and Michael McAllister who together make up Kinecity.

Marek’s collaborations span between physical and virtual spaces. Larges scale responsive architectural facades, interactive tables, new forms of data visualizations and virtual environments are within their combined repertoire but for the purposes of this post I’m just going to show a few pieces of work off that Marek presented at Eyebeam.

The Podium Light Wall

The Podium Light Wall is located on the South and North facades of 7 World Trade Center. As people wander on the pavement below a strip of blue light gracefully follows them. This strip of blue light is 7 floors tall and is visible from Freedom Park.

The Podium Wall accentuates the individual, and the patterns that are created as many pass by together. Kinecity designed the interactive element of the design for James Carpenter Design Assoc. who were the responsible for the wall as an art piece.

Shimmer Wall

The Shimmer Wall is located in the link between the two buildings of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. A place of contemplation designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, the wall projects the subtle shimmering light as the sun plays with the Hudson River.

Kinecity have designed the camera recognition system that recognizes the shimmer on the water. Moving and zooming throughout the day on a very slow orbit, the artificial intelligence system tracks the beauty of light reflecting off water, through which on occasion a ferry or yacht passes by.

Dialog Table

Dialog Table is a shared interface where you use hand gestures to discover more about any dynamic information. Several people can gather around and together explore the table’s movies, narratives and 3D journeys. The table provides an opportunity for people to discuss with each other their thoughts on what they have seen, whether it be an artwork. a game or a service. The first Dialog Table was commissioned by the Walker Art Center as a permanent installation in their museum. The table won an international design competition to promote social interactions among visitors, to provide access to the Walker’s multidisciplinary collections, and to facilitate learning about art.