Thursday, November 1, 2018

“The Now”, the largest interactive art installation of its kind, presented at PABT



The now:
The Now, created by talented filmmakers and video artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger through videoart, animation, video mapping and interactivity, in collaboration with interactivity artists NoirFlux and Karan Parikh, is the first featured art presentation at Coolture Impact and the largest interactive public art installation (72 feet long - 22m.) on the windows of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Times Square.
The now offers a journey into magical worlds, intertwining reality and fantasy, opening doors to hidden places and participatory environments. The Now explores transitory spaces and unseen parallel realities, in a cinematic voyage to visually striking realms, live painting, and animated characters with evolving narratives. Visitors are invited to walk, move and unravel the different storylines.

Artist Statement:
"In this peculiar place of transit, where people come and go in a rush, we wanted to create a piece that would allow them to stop, explore and travel to different magical, poetic and imaginary places, and while interacting with the piece, allow the audience to interact with each other, be in the present.
As a result, we tried to allow new technology to be as accessible as possible. This installation is unique and was created specifically with a combination of complex technologies, but with the desire of making it as seamless and approachable to anyone who interacts with it.
As we created the piece, we thought of where it was presented, and of course, being a transportation hub, we though of transporting people to imaginary world, opening doors of a Subway, an Electric Bus and a 1920’s train who wouldn't breath out smoke but butterflies, our personal winks to Climate Change and our concern about it.
We hope you will find the time to see it, it is intended as to be as immersive and imaginative as possible, surrounded by all the flat screens of Times Square, and an attempt to contribute with public art in a over-saturated place of advertising." — Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger

More infos: laiacabreraco.com/thenow
October 25, 2018 to February 7, 2019 (Running 24/7)
At Coolture Impact - Port Authority Bus Terminal (Outdoor on the South West Corner of 42nd Street with 8th Avenue, New York, NY)

FEATURED ARTISTS / LAIA CABRERA AND ISABELLE DUVERGER
Visual design and art installation created by awarded creative team LAIA CABRERA & Co, founded by Spanish filmmaker and video artist Laia Cabrera and French animator and projection mapping artist Isabelle Duverger.
Searching for new ways of using the space and visual imaginary as a tool for narrative storytelling and audience connection, driven by both scenographic and dramaturgical aspect and creating immersive content experiences in contemporary artwork.
@laiacabreraco @isabelleduverger

FEATURED INTERACTIVITY / NOIRFLUX AND KARAN PARIKH
Co-founded by Interaction artists Lorne Covington and Bill Saiff, working as NOIRFLUX, create responsive environments that provide immersive exploration, expression, and education. Through innovation in multi-person gestural interfaces, advanced spatial sensing, and physical, augmented, and virtual reality techniques, they create participatory experiences that effortlessly extend visitors' capabilities and senses. @noirfluxarts
Karan Parikh, an immersive experience developer. His core areas of focus are mixed reality, interaction design, spatial AR, adaptive and binaural audio. @karan_immersive

ABOUT COOLTURE IMPACT
At the edge of new digital frontiers, Coolture Impact is an incubator that explores and exploits new technologies, art content and social interaction. It creates a new paradigm in storytelling, where digital art is activated by, and exposed to, a large audience. Viewers are invited to experience and interact with art in a personal and exciting way to become an intrinsic part of the soulful artworks of our talented, featured artists.