DM AWARD 2024 1st PRIZE PROJECT -
PARTICLES ENSEMBLE
DM AWARD 1st Prize _ ZKM Karlsruhe/Schlosslichtfestival Karlsruhe, UNESCO City Of Media Arts
MEDIA SCENOGRAPHY - INTERACTIVE URBAN INSTALLATION
PARTICLES ENSEMBLE, DM AWARD 1st Prize Schlosslichtfestival Karlsruhe. Particles Ensemble is a large-scale interactive media scenography, that
responds to the Open Call ‘Connecting Worlds’ by connecting people with place, people with people.
Awarded first prize at the DM Award Karlsruhe, initiated by the Karlsruhe Cultural Office (Kulturamt) within the framework of Media Art Is Here, in collaboration with ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, as part of the UNESCO City of Media Arts program.
The project unfolds across different spatial and temporal layers of the city. During the daytime, an interactive screen installed at ZKM communicates in real time with a second screen located at the Tourist Information Office along the castle axis. This system establishes a visual and interactive pathway through the city, connecting key cultural institutions and inviting visitors to engage with the project before reaching the castle area.
In the evening, the project culminates in a large-scale interactive projection on the Karlsruhe Palace façade. The open space in front of the building is transformed into an interactive stage, while the architecture becomes a responsive projection surface. Visitor movements are captured in real time and translated into abstract particle systems projected onto the façade, turning human presence into a dynamic visual composition.
The intensity, density and lifespan of the particle formations directly depend on audience participation. As more people enter the space and interact, the visual system becomes increasingly complex and vibrant. Media scenography is conceived here as a performative spatial system in which architecture, movement and projection are inseparably linked.
Rather than functioning as a passive screen, the building becomes an interface that reflects collective behavior. Particles Ensemble explores scenography as a social and spatial choreography, where the public actively shapes the visual and perceptual experience through bodily presence and movement.
SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Festival Karlsruhe Germany, organized by ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe UNESCO City of Media Arts August 15 to September 15, 2024.
Production - Overlapping Studio Berlin Simone Serlenga - Media Scenography Simone Franco - Real-time motion design Sub Human Bros - Sound Design Yutaka Sakamoto - Music Composer Makoto Sakamoto - Music Producer
