MadLab built, commissioned, and exhibited a series of digital artworks, presenting them outdoors in our own ‘Silicon Galli’ courtyard –  a central element of the two-day Sheherazade Arts-Tech festival in Central Lahore’s UNESCO designated Walled City, in partnership with Numaish and supported by the British Council.

The festival took place in February 2019, and was covered in the national Dawn newspaper here.

Traversal

Dan Hett & Asa Calow

‍Projection and software

TRAVERSAL brings symbolic flowing water into unexpected spaces, through the use of innovative fluid simulation technology and projection mapping. A collaboration between visiting artists Asa Calow and Dan Hett, TRAVERSAL uses creative projection and cutting-edge depth cameras to render realistic and interactive water in unexpected ways and spaces, and allow deep and accurate interactivity with it. Water flows harmoniously, reacting to both the physical space and the presence and movement of those who pass through it: those that walk through it leave a trail in their wake as they pass.

The work links thematically to the place – ‘Sabeel Waali Galli’ (street) – in which it takes place.  

“As you enter the through Delhi Gate, on your right is the Sabeel Waali Galli, which translates to The Sabeel Street, named after the large sabeel placed at the entrance of the street. A sabeel is a small kiosk where water is freely dispensed to members of the public.

Its significance comes from the battle of Karbala in 61 AH, which was fought between a small group led by the Prophet's grandson Hussain, and the much larger militant forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad Caliph. The small group was denied water for three days, and many of them died of thirst, including an infant of 6 months.”

The Measure Of All Things

Dan Hett

‍‍Projection and software

‍This bold digital piece fuses a study of authentic Islamic geometric design patterns with cutting-edge algorithmic generation, to create a compelling large-scale interactive artwork. Inspired by the incredible centuries-old ingenuity that underpins Islamic geometric forms, the artist has set out to create a rich engaging work that allows the viewer to explore and examine the construction process and creation of hundreds of traditional geometric forms. The work tracks the hands and bodies of the viewers, allowing them to move up and down the timeline of creation: from the first tentative pencil strokes, through to the final tessellated design, mirroring those found in Islamic architecture and design. The designs are fleeting, fluctuating, and ever-changing based on the presence of the audience: traditional geometric forms presented through cutting-edge interactive software, projected beautifully at scale in Lahore.

‍Fresco

Asa Calow

‍Projection, VR, and Software

Fresco is an electronic study in “truthlikeness”; an exploration of the space(s) between representation and reality, using the digital materials of VR – the Unity games engine and Oculus Rift headset, high-definition 3D photogrammetry, complex mathematical systems  – to create a fictional, immersive “land art” landscape with its own unique sense of place unconstrained by the realities of the natural world.

Fresco 01 takes as its starting point the rich profusion of tiled frescoes, floral motifs, and nature-inspired geometries of the nearby Wazir Khan Mosque – but journeys to a new “elsewhere”, transporting the viewer far beyond the immediate reality of the walled city.

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