A Digital Magic Carpet Covers the Floor of an Italian Castle

Images via

Atop a lush green hill in the Apulia region of Southern Italy sits the Castel Del Monte, an Italian castle constructed in 1240. In the 18th century, all of the interior marble was removed, leaving only the stone behind. It’s the perfect backdrop for Miguel Chevalier’s Magic Carpets: an interactive digital animation of medieval tapestries mixed with psychedelic colors and waves, projected from above onto the castle’s octagonal floor.

Chevalier’s mesmerizing Magic Carpets previously covered the floors of the Sacré Coeur in Morocco. For this iteration, Chevalier was intrigued by the “tradition of the mosaic which has a strong presence in Italy and which prefigures the pixel,” according to the video description. Like at the Sacré Coeur, the pixels in the projection move with the music to form lava- and amoeba-like movements and shapes, which react to the movements of the visitors walking on it.

“This world of colors and shapes in movement takes us, as in a giant kaleidoscope, on an imaginary, poetic voyage,” describes Chevelier. Music by Jacopo Baboni Schilingi complements the imagery, creating the auditory experience of entering a futuristic void.

Watch Chevalier create an alternate universe by juxtaposing the hypnotizing graphics of Magic Carpets against ancient architecture:

Miguel CHEVALIER Magic Carpets 2014, Castel Del Monte, Italy (short version) from Claude Mossessian on Vimeo.

See more of Miguel Chevalier’s work on his website.

h/t designboom

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