Original illustration comparing a flat gridded façade with projected shading that makes its panels appear recessed or protruding, while its outer edges remain fixed.

Holography & tricky projections / 2009 · 555 KUBIK, Hamburger Kunsthalle

Projection mapping & trompe-l’œil

A building seems to fold, open or gain impossible depth. Precisely aligned projected images turn its real façade into a moving trompe-l’œil.

TRY THIS

Watch URBANSCREEN’s 555 KUBIK film. Follow the building’s fixed edges while the apparent volumes change. Compare the real surface with the invented depth in the diagram: the light changes, while the wall stays still.

ORIGIN / ATTRIBUTION

URBANSCREEN · 555 KUBIK; art direction by Daniel Rossa

2009 · 555 KUBIK, Hamburger Kunsthalle

Light makes a solid façade appear to change shape

The story behind it

URBANSCREEN’s 555 KUBIK reinterprets O. M. Ungers’s Galerie der Gegenwart at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The project works with the façade’s existing geometry to make its solid architecture seem to dissolve and transform. The studio records the production in its 2009 awards history. It is one example of architectural projection mapping.

What’s happening?

Mapping aligns projected imagery with the shape and position of a real surface. Masks and image warping let the light follow corners, panels and openings. When the content adds convincing perspective, highlights, shadows and motion, it can suggest new volumes or moving structures: a projected form of trompe-l’œil, meaning ‘deceive the eye’. The strongest depth effect may depend on the intended viewing position.

A NOTE ON THE HISTORY

Projection mapping is the alignment method; trompe-l’œil describes the deceptive visual effect. Mapping can also display patterns or information without creating an illusion of depth. The illustration is an invented façade, not a still from 555 KUBIK.

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projection mappingtrompe-l’œiltrompe l'oeiltrompe l'oilURBANSCREEN555 KUBIKHamburgfaçadeperspectiveanamorphosisshading

FOLLOW THE SOURCES

History, evidence & image credit

THE IMAGE IN THIS ARCHIVE

Through Mirror · original explanatory diagram

Original file & attribution · CC0 1.0

Original explanatory diagram created for Through Mirror. It illustrates the optical principle and is not a photograph of a performance or installation. Gallery previews may be resized or converted to WebP; animated previews show the first frame.

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