The massive turbine generators of Istanbul’s first power plant have lain dormant in the Santralistanbul Museum of Energy for decades, but the projection-mapped lightshow by the designers at Ouchhh jolts them back to life, transforming the rusted machinery into a hulking mass of light and power. The A/V performance, known as Mechanical Surface, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the power plant’s creation and “represents the motion of energy, rebirth of the Santral Energy Museum,” Ouchhh explains to The Creators Project. With snaking animated tubes and lightning-white grids, however, the aging turbines seem more like an artifact transported from the future, rather than a relic of the past.
In the past, the Turkish projection-mapping maestros wowed us with their New Mexico-inspired H OM E OMOR PH ISM and the immersive black hole that is CYGNUS. Mechanical Surface takes on a different atmostphere, channeling the historical Museum of Energy to create an experience more about watching the machinery work than immersing the senses in raw stimuli.
Videos by VICE
See the installation in action in the video and pictures below.
Images courtesy the artist
Check out more of Ouchhh’s projects on their website.
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