Thursday, July 14, 2005

New Era for Art

I was in Niagara Falls over the weekend, where I saw an inspiring display of art, design, and multimedia.

At the main entrance to the Niagara Fallsview Casino, is the Teslatron.


This amazing fountain is dedicated to Nikola Tesla,
the inventor of the
tesla coil, and the alternating-current.


Every evening, the fountain turns into a multimedia spectacle. The actors' dialogue, sound effects, and environment lighting are integrated into the entire room to support the fountain's display. The inner core and fringing around the fountain is built of large-pixel LCD screens, which change colour and display animated bubbles and wild electric current running along the entire fountain, as well as the skylight supports.

In short, the Teslatron appears to be overloading as desperate scientists attempt to keep it under control. Animated electricity runs wildly throughout the structure and building supports, as the fountain slowly fills. At it's climax, seen on the right, lights are shining wildly, and water splashes and spills from the fountain into the pool below.

The era of art is changing. Statues and fountains are no longer static. They kinetically portray their story in a broad mix of multimedia!

Any other good examples of this change in culture and arts? Let me know.

1 comment:

Shannon said...

very impressive!