Bright Russian

by Sascha Pohflepp

Tequila Sunset was an installation that uses tracking, computer technology and video projection to make the surface of a bar counter dynamic. A guest’s glass is being recognized from above. Then a digital shadow is applied from below by projection against the frosted glass surface. The shadow has two properties that are related to time:

The shadow’s rotation is connected to the time of day, it spins once every 12 hours.

The shadow’s length is connected to the duration of an individual guest’s stay. The more time a person spends at the place, the longer the shadow grows.

Qualities of the original work

Presumed separation between interior (bar) and exterior (outside) world.

Introduction of subjective time (duration of stay) vs. objective time (clock) to emphasize the situation of suspended, ‘other’ time that takes place in a bar-environment.

Visualization of two different layers of time into one phenomenon (shadow) to make the gap in time experience perceptible.

De-teched approach

The original design was combining two different values in a single property by simulating a natural phenomenon using computer technology and projection.
Faced with the task of detechnologizing the work, i decided to split the two different layers of time-information apart again:

Objective (outside) time

The usual architecture of a bar or club is a closed-off, often underground area. The original design for Tequila sunset was to bring a feeling for the outside world into the inside environment by displaying the time through the shadow’s rotation. Approaching this task without digital technology, it seems easiest to rethink the architecture and just open up the space. This has to be done without the space becoming an outside itself and just adding windows would be too easy.

My proposal therefore are panels, that can be slightly tilted away from the window and which from the inside are covered with mirrors. In an angle of 90°, one would have a direct view of the sky above, even in downtown Manhattan.

This I believe, is an elegant way of flooding the inside of an enclosed space with the outside atmosphere through the outside light.

Two alternative versions of the opened bar-architecture

Subjective (bar) time

The original design tried to convey a feeling for the duration of time that a specific guest has passed within the bar environment. This was realized by digitally making the guest’s glass shadow longer and longer with time.

Approaching the task without technology, I believe it is necessary to stick to the glass because it is (besides cash or cards) the only object that is being exchanged personally between a guest and the bar. I therefore propose that with every round, at the bar, a guest’s glasses should get taller and taller easily carried out by the staff who with every drink will hand out a glass that is approx. 8mm taller than the last one.

This works very well because it actually goes back to the physical causality that the digital shadow was designed around and at the same time nicely mocks at chart graphics – imagine the different guest’s glasses sitting in a horizontal line on the surface of the bar counter.

Conclusions

The analogue approach is simpler and less technological, but incorporates bigger efforts in architecture and shifts the reactivity from technology towards the bar staff. I haven't found a possibility to elegantly include both layers of time into one property of the bar environment. Interestingly, both solutions more or less go back to what would have been the causes of the digital shadow and yet use it for a different solution than in Tequila Sunset.

The version was of course heavier on the digital side, but I found that, if consciously used, the technology allows to fit much more complexity into one aspect of the design – in Tequila Sunset realized through simulation of a natural phenomenon. Here lies great freedom for metaphorical expression because you can use these possibilities to dynamically tweak the world in order to suit the needs of your concept - making impossible shadows for instance.

Sascha Pohflepp (cc)2005

www.pohflepp.com