Client: The City of Quincy

Overview

This four part installation is inspired by a submarine built in 1908 at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA, called Octopus.

The main feature of this installation is a 40 ft wide x 18 ft tall interactive wall where visitors can interact with and alter the content in each scene with movement and gestures. Projected light fills the wider areas of the atrium where two overhead sculptures are placed, representing the linework shape of the iconic submarine, half submerged in water. The third area of the installation features a storytelling wall that describes the short life of the Octopus submarine.

At the interactive wall, visitors experience the Octopus submarine up close, as the submarine leads visitors on an underwater journey through a series of marine habitats, descending to greater and greater depths with the submarine into the fantastical underwater universe.

Goals

This installation occupies an interstitial space that would otherwise be treated as a corridor to get from plaza to the building entrance or adjacent streets. By activating this space with an art installation it has been transformed into a destination that not only brightens the day of locals, but attracts visitors from far and wide into the emerging urban center of Downtown Quincy.

Process

There are 27 projectors used in this permanent installation, as well as sensors enabling the content on the main 40 ft wall to be interactive.