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Museum of Moving Image, Astoria, NY is currently showing SINGLE STREAM (2013), a new large-scale 28-minute video installation by artists Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee and Ernst Karel. The impressive 50×8-foot mural greets visitors in the museum’s lobby and entrance hallway and relies on Dataton WATCHOUTâ„¢ multi-image display and presentation software to manage and warp the content across five Barco edge-blended projectors.
Since its renovation in 2011, the Museum of Moving Image’s lobby wall has become a showcase for adventurous video installations and curated exhibits of web art. “The lobby is the first thing that visitors see,” said Jason Eppink, associate curator of digital media at Museum of Moving Image. “It is a challenging space to program and curate because it’s first and foremost a functional space. There are visitors coming in and out of the building to speak with guest services and ticketing.”
During the renovation, prime audiovisual contractor Electrosonic, supported by Show Sage, Dataton Premium Partner for North America, upgraded the audiovisual technology across various areas of the museum including its lobby wall. Electrosonic senior sales consultant Bryan Abelowitz noted: “We worked with Museum of Moving Image throughout the 1990s and did their original ‘Behind the Screen’ core exhibition. In 2011, we provided a state-of-the-art, 21st-century upgrade, which included WATCHOUT in the lobby wall. We chose WATCHOUT for our project because it is so reliable and is able to handle a range of video and audio formats that the museum can easily operate.”
“We’ve relied on the WATCHOUT system from the very beginning,” said Jason Eppink. “The Museum is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms, so we use the free run capability of WATCHOUT to manage a wide range of works, including live action video, animation, and animated GIFs. The lobby wall is used to both exhibit artwork examine cultural phenomenon.”
“WATCHOUT is a rock-solid platform. In future, we are looking at using the Dynamic Image Server function to further engage audiences.”
Jim Testa, president of Show Sage said: “It is terrific to see the Museum of Moving Image use Dataton WATCHOUT to its full capability. Through WATCHOUT’s power and versatility, the museum is able to create highly experiential exhibits of film and other works of art that amaze and inspire the public.”
WATCHOUT manages sound and images for SINGLE STREAM
The latest exhibition, SINGLE STREAM opened on July 3 and runs through November 3, 2013.
SINGLE STREAM is a visual and sonic exploration inside a recycling facility, the video blurs the line between observation and abstraction, plunging the viewer into the steady flow of the plant and capturing the complex processes devised to treat the enormous amount of waste Americans produce every day.
“SINGLE STREAM is a collaboration between three artists, one of whom is a sound ethnographer. He recorded audio on-site and constructed a sound track specifically designed for the four-speaker system in our lobby. This is managed through WATCHOUT by splitting two stereo audio files before sending them to the speakers,” explained Eppink.
“Throughout the project, working with Electrosonic, Show Sage assisted with technical support and advice that we needed. So far, SINGLE STREAM has been received very well.”
Lars Sandlund, chief operating officer at Dataton says: “Dataton is located in several film museums around the world to engage, enthrall and inform audiences. This latest use of WATCHOUT at Museum of Moving Image demonstrates the effective way in which our technology combines large-format video display for rotating exhibitions through a future-proof solution.”
The building which houses Museum of Modern Image was designed by architect Thomas Leeser and is located on the site where Paramount’s East Coast production facility, the famed Astoria Studio, stood in the 1920s.
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