The “Architectural Advertising Amplifier” (AAMP) is a permanent generative media art installation at “Wilkie Edge”, a mixed commercial development in Singapore. AAMP is creating transitional aspects between a commercial LED billboard that had already been set into the façade and the actual architecture of the building.

To create a continuously changing content, AAMP “hijacks” the never-ending stream of commercial content displayed on the LED billboard: A specialized artistic software permanently analyzes this content and transforms it into a visual color-echo that is displayed on the AAMP installation in real time. Triggered by the results of the software’s image analysis, various algorithms are applied to automatically “digest” the incoming images and generate a never-repeating artistic interpretation. Although the resolution of the installation is extremely low, the displayed abstract images and patterns maintain an astonishing degree of legibility as the human brain manages to link and associate the color patterns back to the originating moving images displayed on the commercial LED billboard. While the production of an artistic light aura as such is the default operational mode, two special modes are there to add an extra twist: With “Recursive Mode,” the software not only processes the AAMP behavior, but also aesthetically feeds back onto the LED billboard itself in real time, i.e., the software artistically manipulates the screened commercials and acts on both the high-end and the low-end screen. While the use of “Recursive Mode” is bound to special agreements with the advertisers, “Dream Mode” is automatically used at all times when no paid commercials are scheduled for display – here the AAMP machine starts “dreaming” by generating a unique, abstract yet poetic art piece based on all the commercials shown – and recorded – in the past. While commercial LED billboards on most buildings remain “anti-architectural elements,” AAMP is an attempt to generate a transitional joint between the realms of art, architecture, and advertising. Maybe it can help to enrich the ongoing discussion about the use of large-scale advertising as an undeniable element of today’s urban reality.

Details

Building or project owner : CapitaLand Commercial and Integrated Development Ltd.

Architecture : WOHA Architects

Light design : realities:united

Descriptions

Resolution and transmitting behaviour : Low resolution - content is projected onto the inner blinds that form the screen

Urban situation : This media installation does not cover up, but transforms the architecture to become a carrier of digital information and an urban landmark at the same time.

Participatory architecture & urban interaction

Mediacredits