With the opening of the NAWAREUM museum in Straubing (D) and the opening event at the DAS MORGEN hotel in Vitznau (CH), two major projects were completed that could not be more different. While two interactive gaming tables were developed with great attention to detail in the Museum of Sustainability, a versatile multimedia room was created in the world’s first Neuro Campus Hotel ‘DAS MORGEN’ on Lake Lucerne, which also serves as a foyer for the adjacent unique chamber music hall. In their divergence, however, both projects have one thing in common: they bear the signature of Ars Electronica Solutions.
The NAWAREUM hands-on museum is designed to interactively bring sustainability and climate protection closer to children of primary school age and older, but also to adults. On three floors, various topics related to nature and technology are made comprehensible and, above all, tangible. Ars Electronica Solutions developed two multimedia game tables that deal with renewable energies and playfully demonstrate various possibilities for energy supply. The game ‘Together for the Energy Turnaround’ deals with the different forms of energy, such as hydropower, wind energy and biogas, and shows which type can be used most efficiently under certain conditions. The game ‘Planting energy for ‘Gründorf’ deals with the supply of a village with renewable raw materials. Here, the game participants learn in an interactive and strategic way which materials are the most efficient and sustainable. Without pointing the finger, possibilities and alternatives are to be shown. The focus is on biodiversity. Game events from politics, society and the environment constantly present the players with new challenges.
“The goal of both games is to convey information in a lasting way, which means that it is not consumed quickly but remains permanently in the memory”.
Michaela Fragner, Project Manager Ars Electronica Solutions
As project manager, the Ars Electronica Solutions employee was responsible both for the interactive tables in the NAWAREUM and for the Multimedia Hall project in THE MORNING.
The latter was presented to the public during a spectacular four-day opening event in early February. The Multimedia Hall, planned and developed by Ars Electronica Solutions, is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and serves as a foyer to the Chamber Music Hall. The room with two walk-in galleries has a 16:9 recordable floor and a main wall onto which six (of a total of 19) projectors are directed. In addition, all side walls on the ground floor can be projected. A 3D audio system provides an immersive listening experience for the visitors.
The technological basis is the Deep Space 8K technology developed at Ars Electronica, which offers very special and unique functionalities for immersive spaces. Thus, after the ‘Cubo Negro’ in Mexico, another Deep Space 8K was created, in which attention was paid to compatibility with the Deep Space 8K in the Ars Electronica Center in order to be able to exchange content. For example, Journey into the Universe can no longer be seen only in Linz, but also in Vitznau.
However, the Deep Space technology was decisively expanded by Ars Electronica Solutions in terms of technology and content to enable further usage scenarios with additional AV media technology in the multimedia hall.
Ars Electronica Solutions also developed two customised applications for the Multimedia Hall. ‘Call to Echo’ is an audiovisual composition in which the visualisation reacts in real time to an artistically interpreted yodelling song recorded especially for the project at the Lucerne School of Music. The visualisation and composition is a homage to the musical traditions of the canton of Lucerne and to the ‘blue hour’ on the lake. Another interactive application is dedicated to Lake Lucerne. The lake and the neighbouring landscapes and places such as Lucerne, Küssnacht, Horw and Brunnen are projected on a large scale onto the floor of the multimedia hall. Visitors can wander through the room from a bird’s eye view and explore the surroundings, with projected hotspots activated by automated position recognition. In this way, visitors can learn about culture, history and culinary delights.
On the opening weekend, the multimedia hall and the applications were presented to the public, whereby the multifunctionality of the space became particularly clear. On the one hand, the multimedia hall served as a foyer, which was played with a variable real-time visualisation, in which the visitors are treated to selected gastronomy during concert events in the chamber music hall. On the other hand, the multimedia hall will be a venue for all kinds of events in the future. The opening was just a foretaste of the many possible uses.
Michaela Fragner has been Project Manager at Ars Electronica Solutions since 2018. Her experience abroad has enabled her to look after many international clients and projects. Her passion for new media is particularly evident in the mediation of innovative installations in concept presentations. In her private life, she is very interested in the subject of psychology, which is why she likes to incorporate aspects of it into visions, concepts and customer consulting.