Knowledge Is Power - Full Length Edition

Knowledge Is Power - Full Length Edition from NewD Media / Vger the VJ on Vimeo.

A Live, Interactive blend of Music and Projection Mapping Visuals encompassing the entire front facade and lawn of The DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY, as a centerpiece of the 2012 Dlectricity Festival on October 5th-6th, 2012.

The phrase "Knowledge Is Power" is carved in marble above the main entrance of the Library, and this installation is an exploration and meditation on that theme.

Carved beneath each arched window of the Library are the names of philosophers and thinkers of antiquity: Aeschylus, Socrates, Plato, Archimedes, Cicero, Caesar, and Aristotle. Here, each appears as an apparition, and are joined by thoughts from Alexander the Great, Jesus of Nazareth and Hypatia of Alexandria.

From our beginnings as nomads at the mercy of nature, we harnessed fire, produced art, language, philosophy, and civilization. We collected knowledge from around the world into the great library of Alexandria, only to lose it to the fires of fanatic ignorance. Emerging from a thousand years of darkness with the printing press, ocean-spanning ships, and revolutions of industry, gradually we became a global civilization capable of both apocalyptic doom and exploration of worlds beyond - along with the construction of a world wide web collecting knowledge and communication among all.

To create this 20-minute journey through human history, NewD Media was awarded an emerging artist grant from the DTE Energy Corporation.

Subtitles have been added where projected text was difficult to see in the video.

NEW D MEDIA
Gabriel Hall - CEO/mapping/technical director
Daniel Land - creative director

written/designed/directed by Gabriel Hall & Daniel Land

musical score composed/performed by
Audra Kubat featuring 'Lens' by Octiv

lighting by Gabe Rice

3d laser scan by David Dreffs
3d laser data conversion by Dan Johnson
modeling and additional 3d by Chris Bedrosian
fluid simulations by John Ikera

cinematography by Logan Siegel
additional camera by D.Land
editing/post by Daniel Land, Logan Siegel and Gabriel Hall.

special thanks to Jon Hudson and David Padrusch.