

miguel chevalier morphs italian castle with kaleidoscopic patterns

all images courtesy of miguel chevalier

with recent developments in the fields of material science and technology, designers around the world have recognized the potential for their works to articulate more, provoking stronger messages by crossing into other disciplines. in line with the trajectory of this trend, miguel chevalier has created alternative ways of experiencing the spaces of churches, museums, foundations, and tunnels with mesmerizing graphical interfaces. this exploration of the electronic arts has continued its way into castel del monte for festival internazionale di andria castel dei mondi 2014 in the form of ‘magic carpets’.

with its unique architecture based on the number 8, the edifice is imbued with a mathematical and astronomical rigor that adopts the shape of the octagon. in addition, its positioning has been carefully orchestrated to display special symmetries of light on solstice days. this symbolic system has drawn the passionate interest of experts on account of its oddity and esotericism, making it an ideal location for the interactive installation. the piece revisits the tradition of mosaics, which prefigure the advent of pixels. at one point in time, the decorations were highly present throughout the castle’s interior. paying homage to this aesthetic, pictures made up of unstable black-and-white mega-patterns successively slide into vividly saturated spirals that swirl about, performing veritable choreographic movements set to music by jacopo baboni schilingi.



blue and green pixelation

similar the metaphor of the eight-sided form present here, the transition from the (square) earth to the (circular) sky is represented through ‘magic carpets’.‘this artificial universe seems to rejoin that of life. everything comes together, comes apart, and alters shape at top speed,’ says chevalier. as the viewers move about the space, their feet manipulate in the appearance of these mobile, interlaced graphics. colorfully sinuous curves ripple forth, thus re-establishing connections with the shimmering tapestries of the middle ages, classical antiquity, the islamic world, and the cistercian gothic of northern europe. these arabesques generate completely new visual experiences that are reminiscent of the psychedelic, artificial paradises of the 1970s.



as people move throughout the space, their feet place pressure on the floor, which manipulates the graphic



a pixelated pattern combined with a shifting liquid texture



the textures make allusions to tapestries of the middle ages

project info:

project name: magic carpets 2014

designer: miguel chevalier

music: jacopo baboni schilingi

program: generative and interactive virtual-reality installation

location: festival internazionale di andria castel dei mondi, castel del monte, andria (italy)

diameter: 17.50m

software: cyrille henry/antoine villeret with the assistance of voxels productions

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.