Kitchener's Cube

[UrbanWaterloo]

Kitchener's Cube
200 King Street West, Kitchener
Website (http://www.downtownkitchener.ca/news/thecube/)

http://www.downtownkitchener.ca/sites/cityofkitchener/images/photos/2009-09-cube-large2.jpg

[UrbanWaterloo]

Digital-media projection system atop Kitchener City Hall will be a test-bed for new technology

The bond between contemporary art, special events and digital technology was strengthened last night through the unveiling of a new digital-projection system that will light up the south and west faces of the 13-metre cube atop Kitchener City Hall on a nightly basis.

The digital projectors - designed, manufactured and installed by world-renowned Christie Digital Systems Canada, Inc. (www.christiedigital.com), whose national head office is located near downtown Kitchener -- are permanently mounted in specialized environmental chambers. They are plugged into a media server that is managed with a web based content management program called mymedia, which will allow city staff to schedule programming of digital media on the cube.

The digital projection provides:

a new visual focal point for downtown;
a new digital gallery for artists in the community;
a test bed for new digital-projection applications and content; and visual support to events being held in the downtown.

CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area) previously demonstrated the potential of such an installation by utilizing two 18,000 lumens bright Christie HD DLP projectors as the centre piece of their 2007 Haptic festival. The visual impact on downtown Kitchener was substantial.

In addition, in 2007 city staff, working with corporate partners such as Christie, Communitech, Desire2Learn, Dalsa and the economic development advisory committee finalized the city's economic development strategy (2007-2010.) The strategy identifies digital media as a top emerging cluster based on the strengths of corporate and institutional partners. The projection on city hall helps to advance the strategy, by creating a new high profile venue to showcase digital media and technology.

Together, with the support of the Digital Media Convergence Centre in Downtown Kitchener, these initiatives support an integrated approach to the development of a new industry in Kitchener and help animate King Street with digital-media technology.

''Knowing how many parties were involved in bringing this concept to life shows me that this has been a tremendous, collaborative partnership,'' said Mayor Carl Zehr. ''The new digital-projection system adds an interesting dimension to city hall, as well as an incredible effect on the entire downtown. I'd encourage everyone to visit city hall in the twilight hours and see for themselves.''

''Christie is proud to support the City of Kitchener's adoption of the latest in digital-media projection technology,'' said Gerry Remers, president and COO of Christie Digital Systems Canada, Inc. ''The use of the Kitchener City Hall tower as an informative and entertaining medium is innovative, effective and eye catching; it will be seen by many as a beacon that messages Kitchener's support of our nation's innovation agenda.''

The city hall digital-projection project is currently anticipated to evolve over at least three phases. During Phase 1 (2009/2010), the projection program will promote and support city-sponsored cultural events, festivals and public-art exhibitions; and create new event opportunities.

In Phase 2 (2010/2011), staff will also explore the possibility of developing a website to support community engagement in digital media.

In Phase 3 (2011 and beyond), staff will explore opportunities for multi-site projection of programming content developed for city hall.

The program schedule for the city hall digital projection will be from dusk to 11 p.m. every day during the year, except during city-sponsored events.


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Kitchener and Christie Digital Light Up the City Hall Cube
Posted by Henry Finn on Mon, August 31, 2009 5:35 PM
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/kitchener-and-christie-digital-light-up-the-city-hall-cube

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2579/3875775707_eaec06f319_m.jpg

Kitchener’s City hall is taking a cue from Blade Runner and Minority Report’s futuristic advertisements by combining digital art and advertising. The large grey cube on Kitchener City Hall will be lit up using two digital projectors donated by Christie Digital which also installed the devices. The project seems to be primarily for the aesthetic value, the digital media cube will also serve as a sort of monument to Kitchener’s commitment to growing its digital media economy.

The official release pitches the new digital media cube as a visual focal point for downtown, a new digital gallery for artists in the community and a test bed for new digital-projection applications and content as well as visual support for events held downtown. Unofficially people love how it looks and Christie Digital is paying the bulk of the bill. Christie Digital’s president and COO said “The Use of the Kitchener City Hall tower as an informative and entertaining medium is innovative, effective and eye catching; it will be seen by many as a beacon that messages Kitchener’s support of our nation’s innovation agenda.”

September will bring even more digital media to Kitchener city hall. The Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener & Area (CAFKA) will be hosting many digital art installations such as The Eye Writer created by Graffiti Research Lab. The Eye Writer will track its users eye movements and convert them into a laser light show displayed on city hall.

There is a video of the laser Eye Writer in action as well as a video of Kitchener’s city hall digital media installation.

[UrbanWaterloo]

Student Cube Contest
City of Kitchener | Link (http://www.kitchener.ca/city_hall/departments/community_services/community_program/cube.html)

Look up, look ‘way up at the images on the Cube, high atop the Berlin Tower, the tallest part of Kitchener City Hall. You can see these at night from Civic Square or from blocks away.

If you are a secondary or post-secondary student in Waterloo region, you are invited to apply to showcase creative videos on the Cube, via two high-powered Christie projectors mounted on city hall’s roofs; images are projected every evening onto two sides of the Cube.

The City of Kitchener is taking applications for videos to be part of its fall exhibition program.

The selection committee, members of the city’s Public Art Working Group (PAWG), will be looking assessing the entries for originality, quality, design values and compliance with the specified technical criteria.

Application form and guidelines (http://www.kitchener.ca/pdf/cube_student_contest.pdf)

A number of finalists will be selected. From the finalists, two winners will be chosen: one from the secondary school level and one from post-secondary school level.

All finalists’ work will be exhibited on The Cube, every evening for one month.

Prizes will be awarded:

Post-secondary school level: $500
Secondary school level: $300

Submissions must comply with a number of technical requirements (see application and guidelines PDF above).
Deadline for applications is Wednesday, June 30 at 4 p.m.

[Spokes]

Student films to be screened on City Hall
July 23, 2010 | Melinda Dalton | The Record


It’s a canvas unlike any other around and, come fall, two local students will see their work lighting it up for the whole city to see.

The winners of the city’s first student video contest were announced this week. They will see their videos projected on The Cube, part of the Berlin Tower a top City Hall, several times a night.

“I think it’s a really good incentive for other people who like movies to try it themselves,” said 18-year-old Jamey Sinanan, whose film, Loss, won in the high school category.

Not only did Sinanan’s film get his work on to one of the most visible screens in town, it also got him into York University’s film production program, where he’ll start this fall. He produced the film as part of his admission package and only threw it in as an entry to the city’s competition at the urging of a friend.

The contest was launched earlier this year and drew more than a dozen entries from students across the region. Members of the city’s Public Art Working Group based judged the videos based on originality, quality and design value. The films also had to be family-friendly and silent, since the two projectors mounted on top of city hall don’t have speakers.

“It think that probably the most important part of the project is that young people have a voice in the redevelopment of downtown and in their community,” said Cheryl York, the city’s arts and culture coordinator. “It’s important for young people to be recognized for the positive, creative things they do.”

Sinanan’s film is a two-minute narrative piece that focuses on a man who has just lost his wife and baby in childbirth. A self-professed movie buff and St. Mary’s High School grad, Sinanan filmed the short with a rented camera and enlisted the help of friend James Rochon.

“I had a lot of ambitions when I was making it but I found out the hard way it’s really hard to make a film,” he said, adding the end product didn’t turn out quite as he had initially intended.

But the series of scenes he was left with, centered primarily on the man driving away from the hospital, were strong enough to catch the eyes of the judges.

Kristina Foster, the winner of the post secondary category, focused her entry on the visual representation of sound. Originally a final project for a third year honours digital media course at the University of Waterloo, Foster spent three months creating the video on Adobe After Effects.

“I was completely new to the program and it was a very interesting learning curve, but it was definitely worth it,” she said.

Initially set to the song Explosive by the British string quartet, Bond, the silent clip expresses higher tones in yellow ribbons and rich bass in lightning strikes of blues and browns. The project was inspired by Foster’s interest in the perceptions of sound-colour synesthetes – people who see colours and simple shapes emerge and then fade in response to sound.

She describes the project as, “an attempt to visualize the negative spaces of an existing positive space until it becomes its own entity.”

A fine arts student, Foster said the project has opened her eyes to new possibilities in her own work.

“It definitely introduces a new dimension to a work of art, such as time,” she said. “I think there is something to be said for moving into a digital realm.”

The first videos were projected onto the Berlin Tower in 2007 when the CAFKA arts festival mounted digital projectors on the roof and beamed images onto the walls. Last year, the city started using the space, projecting video clips on two sides of the tower using HD projectors donated by Christie Digital.

In the last year, videos featured on The Cube have included everything from Oktoberfest parade footage, to Olympic torch relay promotional videos to Dairy Diary, a project by the UW’s Critical Media Lab that was comprised of up-close images of dairy cows.

“I think visually animating a space transcends all kinds of boundaries,” said York. “It provides a bit of visual excitement. It’s something new and different it talks about our marriage of technology and art.”

The student’s films are tentatively slated to première on The Cube September 7 and will run for one month.

[UrbanWaterloo]

City hall ‘Cube’ becomes art gallery for summer
City of Kitchener | Link (http://www.kitchener.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?newsId=sytVtztAa2WsUDA4EzsMNweQuAleQuAl )

The City of Kitchener and Christie Digital are proud to present the largest outdoor art gallery in Waterloo Region: the Cube Gallery on city hall. Located in the heart of downtown Kitchener, the Cube Gallery will highlight the works of local artists for the months of July and August.

“It’s a completely new way to showcase local artists,” said Cheryl York, the city’s arts and culture co-ordinator. “This gallery adds to the quality of the summer experience in downtown Kitchener while also promoting local talent.”

The Cube Gallery will showcase local visual artists:

July 2011


Carina Francioso uses oil on canvas to explore the positive and negative representations of fashion, beauty and consumerism.
Amy Ferrari manipulates shape and colour into joyful landscapes.
John Rula inspires the viewer with abstract, cubist shapes that dance with colour and movement.
Meghan Sims is a legally blind artist who is inspired by her curiosity of visual perception and the power of communicating emotions through images.

August 2011

Jakki Annerino is a Canadian artist and singer-songwriter who uses encaustic (wax) collage to blend vintage images, colours and materials.
Laura De Decker explores fundamental visual elements through abstract colour images created using computer code that she writes.
Amy Ferrari (see July)
Stela Topolcic specializes in drawing and painting, with an interest in narrative and world cultures.

In addition, a selection of photographs from the Kitchener Public Library's amateur photo contest will also be shown:

July

Landscape: Angela House and John-Paul Fillion
Animals: Karen von Knobloch, Alex Thomson and Andrzej Godlewski.

August

Architecture: Jesse Brenneman
Photo manipulation: Karen von Knobloch, Ron Keachie and Beryl McGuinness.

Also, Kitchener in Macro explores Breithaupt Street in July and Rockway Gardens in August, in ways never seen by the average eye. The work of Jessie Bridge, a local videographer, will be featured in the August exhibit.

Images by Sean Puckett’s Portrait of Kitchener will also be featured through July and August. As Kitchener’s artist-in-residence for 2011, Puckett’s goal is to photograph 1,000 local residents to foster a deeper understanding of the diversity of people that make up Kitchener.

The program schedule for the Cube is from dusk to 10 p.m. every day during the year, except during city-sponsored events.

York adds that although this is a pilot year for the program, artists who are interested in participating in the future can provide their contact information to: Carrie Kozlowski, program assistant, arts and culture unit, at 519-741-2912 or TTY/textnet: 1-866-969-9994.

[UrbanWaterloo]

Youth video winners now on The Cube and YouTube
October 13, 2011 | City of Kitchener | Link (http://www.kitchener.ca/en/newslist/index.aspx?newsId=D6mDthr1uwU1rNSLjLSc8geQuAleQuAl )

Forty entries were submitted to the city’s second youth video contest, and the top ones are now showcased on The Cube and the city’s YouTube account. The entry number is a huge increase over the number received in 2010, the competition’s first year.

More than 95 per cent of the applicants were from right here in Waterloo Region. Taking first place is Maryam Golafshani, with her video, Be the Solution. Erik O’Neill’s video, Terry the Cube, took second, while Mark Klassen’s Hommage and Emma Schmidt’s Downtown Kitchener: Make it Beautiful tied for third.

Honourable mentions were awarded to:

Evan Brock
Claro Cosco
Andrew Diaz
Ryan Forneri and Michael Naundorf
Mike Hejmej
Michael Jeong
Joanna Johnson
Anna Matheson and Melissa Loewen
Dana McCool
Matt Neill
Cambria Olding
Zakk Patel
Zack Ramelan
Alana Raymond
Aaron Vince

Kitchener’s youth video contest offers young people in Waterloo region an opportunity to be creative with video, to have their work seen publicly and to play an active role in our community.