Georg II – The Mysterious Theatre Machine

Facade mapping has developed into a popular media form in public spaces over the past few years. It is increasingly setting itself apart from cinema and club culture and developing its own language and syntax. For example, real-time elements were integrated for the first time at the annual Genius Loci Festival in Weimar. This year, a collaboration between the media architecture and the Human-Computer Interaction programme allows to take the step towards interactive facade mapping.

Interface design

Low-fidelity prototypes were created and an analysis of the used environment was started at the beginning of the project in order to obtain important findings at an early stage, which were taken into account in the later development. In order to combine the local conditions with the interactive part in a meaningful way, a large number of designs were created and evaluated.
The concept provides the viewer with the opportunity to influence projected content on the façade by pulling ropes. The scope of interaction is not limited to one person; up to twelve visitors can interact at the same time.

Due to the high level of use, particular reliability and stability of the „theatre machine“ must be guaranteed. The technical realisation is made possible by the use of sensors, which are also used in industry. This ensures a high level of accuracy and resistance.

A Total Installation

The entire performance is divided into several sections. A ceiling projection accompanies the visitor as they enter the castle courtyard.

After the façade projection, the interactive part is started by activating the „theatre machine“, with young people presenting a choreography and inserting the symbolic theatre principles into suitable holders.

Running the Total Situation

The event took place on the 22nd and 23rd of August 2014 in the courtyard of the castle Elisabethenburg in Meiningen. The pictures below show the situation created.

  • Client

    City of Meiningen, Dana Kern (Department of Culture)

  • Production Team

    Anke von der Heide (Initiator, Artistic Director) Patrick Tobias Fischer (Production Director)

  • Animation

    Aidas Cergelis, Felix Dondera, Christoph Drews, Jonas Lidelikis, Reinaldo Verde,

  • Human-Castle Interaction

    Till Fastnacht, Matti Wiegmann, Fernando Millan, Hesam Jannesar, Aryan Khosravani

  • Reactive Ceiling

    Kai Gerrit Lünsdorf, Djamel Merad

  • Music

    Markus Rom

  • Photo

    Candy Welz

  • Schools

    Evangelisches Gymnasium Meiningen Schule am Kiliansberg Meiningen Regelschule Floh-Seligenthal Regelschule Trusetal

  • Choreography

    Axel Monsigny

  • Research Partners

    Dr. Sabine Zierold, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eva Hornecker

  • Sponsors

    resolume, Panirama (Lüneburg), fisch&fischer (Ilmenau), MediaPoint (Weimar), Rolf Wagner, ABS electronic, Stadtwerke Meiningen, bgs, Resch Druck

  • Funded by

    BMBF, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, Röhn-Rennsteig Sparkasse

  • References

    Patrick Tobias Fischer, Anke von der Heide, Eva Hornecker, Sabine Zierold, Andreas Kästner, Felix Dondera, Matti Wiegmann, Fernando Millan, Jonas Lideikis, Aidas Cergelis, Reinaldo Verde, Christoph Drews, Till Fastnacht, Kai Gerrit Lünsdorf, Djamel Merat, Aryan Khosravani and Hesam Jannesar. Castle-Sized Interfaces: An Interactive Façade Mapping. Proc. of Pervasive Displays 2015 (PerDis'15), ACM 2015, pp. 91-97.

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