ADIDAS DEERUPT
Client: Vita Motus / Adidas
Event: Deerupt Launch Exhibition
Site: Magic Box DTLA
Concept: The Grid [Future Past]
ROLES:
lead installation artist
concept artist
VR presentation artist
sound designer & composer
FUTURE PAST CONCEPT
An immersive experience celebrating the impact of history on future, told through the lens of adidas and the newly launched Deerupt shoe. The Deerupt concept driver is the grid, which references the shock-absorbent web found on classic adidas trainers. The linear event flow guides viewers from the 1980’s through a time-warp into the future.
FULL-PROCESS MULTIMEDIA DESIGNER
Our contacts at Adidas trusted us with artistic freedom and minimal branding, and we delivered a journey of several immersive art installations, each with a unique interpretation of “The Grid” in chronology. HNZLR was contracted by Vita Motus as concept artist, virtual reality developer, technical designer, sound designer, and build director, offering critical contribution on the following exhibits:
Laser A-Frame [Concepting, Lead Technical Design, Sound]
Holoscrim [Concepting, Sound, Media Direction]
The Wormhole [Concepting, Sound, Technical Assist]
Esther Stocker “Footwear Room” [CAD Assist for Artist Collaboration]
VR PRESENTATION
This project took place during the peak of VR’s “second wave”. A pioneering the use of Unreal Engine for virtual reality, HNZLR previsualized the design and developed an immersive virtual reality presentation, accompanying Vita Motus leadership to Adidas HQ. There HNZLR installed room scale spatial VR in a conference room and proceeded to guide Adidas executives through this immersive virtual world [many of which had never been in room-scale VR before], sealing their approval and securing funding.
CINEMATIC CONCEPT RENDERING
HNZLR presents live Unreal Engine scenes to clients during reviews, alongside unparalleled CAD models with custom shaders.
These state-of-the-art graphics are created in-house and are a critical part of our persuasion to seal concept viability and to communicate intent to our lighting programmers.
The client is empowered by seeing these worlds being modified in real time, able to suggest prop movements, visualize lighting, test new orientations, and witness the changes happening while on calls.
Creative vision meets technical knowledge.
_ early flythrough concept [representative of the journey HNZLR presented to Adidas executives in virtual reality]
LASER A-FRAME
TECHNICAL + SOUND DESIGN
HNZLR lead the concepting, technical design, sound design, programming direction, and build direction of the Laser A-Frame. This installation interprets the grid with two perpendicular class-4 laser bars terminating upon a single rigged pipe at the A-Frame’s apex.
The emergent properties of addressable laser units created an undulating spectacle of concentrated multi-colored light, limited to a red/blue mixed spectrum. The sound is reminiscent of a living machine, an aberration in an orderly, regulated system.
_ rough proof of concept rendered quickly on-site that HNZLR used to provide direction for The Laser A-Frame’s programming
HOLOSCRIM
SOUND DESIGN + MEDIA DIRECTION
While in the early phases of learning Ableton and sound design techniques, HNZLR delivered a series of sonic and visual moods to complement each scene for the Holoscrim exhibit, a double-membrane projection hallway featuring rear and frontal projection, immersing the user between two layers of scrim for a uniquely transportive photo opportunity. HNZLR coordinated reviews with media and projection teams to dial each look on site.
WORMHOLE
TECHNICAL + SOUND DESIGN
HNZLR lead the concepting and sound design of The Wormhole and assisted in technical design. This installation features two opposing, parallel double-membranes of 2-way mirrors enveloping a rectilinear array of LED matrix panels. The result is an optical illusion that appears to be an infinite tunnel. The grid aesthetic is the perfect graphic for this repeating convergence, encapsulating the exhibit’s intention of sending guests on a warped journey through time.
The sound design evokes a droning trance and a blend between retro 80’s arcade music and futuristic techno, composed on-site by HNZLR.
This original composition served as a transition between the “80’s Adidas Studio Room” (featuring vintage 80’s technology and antiquated footwear design stations) and the futuristic Vita Motus exhibits that followed after the Wormhole.
_ second phase Unreal Engine render mock-up
PHOTOGRAPHY
[All photos taken and edited by HNZLR]
