EXPERTS IN MONUMENTAL COMMUNICATION SINCE 1995
MARNIX ING HQ • BRUSSELS • BELGIUM • INAUGURATED IN 1999, PERMANENT since 2014
The World's first permanent monumental interactive RGB video Matrix for the MARNIX building design by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owing and Merill in Brussels, Belgium for the Millenium 1999.
INAUGURATED in 1999 - PERMANENT since 2014
The BBL, an ING bank decided to organize a major event around their headquarters in Brussels, Belgium to celebrate the new Millennium. The bank’s goals were to valorize its unique architecture and clearly identify the bank to the building.
The extraordinary building designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was an absolute inspiration to the Magic Monkey design team.
The Magic Monkey turnkey solution (original concept, design, installation & management) was to convert the entire 2000 m2 façade of the building into a giant video display transparent to the occupants of the building but highly visible to the thousands of people driving by everyday.
The project was inaugurated on December 8th 1999. Everyone was invited to participate and create their own images and animations by downloading a free animation interface from the burgeoning web (remember dial-in connections!).
As soon as a new animation was uploaded via the website created for the project, participants would receive an email thanking them for their participation and telling them when their animation would play on the building. Entire families could then come see their animations on the building or watch from the web cam.
The Marnix Monumental Interactive Matrix project was a huge success, lots of participations and a big impact on people’s imagination. The Bank was delighted and so was everyone else.
As a little bonus, a jury of artists (Yvaral, Yann Kersalé, Robert Palmer and Franco Dragone) was invited to award 4 equal prizes of 2000 Euros to their favorite animations for the 1st edition and 4 equal prizes of 2001 Euros for the second edition.
Marnix 2000: 1st edition from December 8th 1999 to January 8th 2000
Marnix 2001: 2nd edition from December 5th 2000 to January 5th 2001
Due to popular demand, the original Marnix Matrix concept was reinstalled permanently in 2014 and has been displaying a variety of original content ever since.
WEB LINKS
www.som.com Skidmore, Owings and Merrill