New Entrance to Las Vegas, USA
International Open Competition 2004
Client: The Desert Space Foundation, Nevada, USA
Team: Igor Marko + Raita Nakajima
The proposal captures the moment of anticipation just before the opening of a show, before the curtain goes up and the audience becomes part of a fictional world - in this case, the largest show on Earth, the city of Las Vegas. A metallic fabric is draped down from a steel pole over-hanging the roads. When the curtain is perfectly still, it appears as a still plane of translucent polished metal sheet partially reflecting the earth and sky around but, at the same time, the image of the city can be seen through the fabric like a mirage. When it gently moves in the wind, the degree of transparency starts to shift. It starts to create the patterns of light and shadow, bright and dark, the nature and the manmade city beyond, the reality and the fantasy, and the dream and heart-broken. During the night, it becomes the screen of projected images. The projection can be changed from flood of colors to sings/logos and promotional images of the current events.