Client: OTO Development

Overview

Narduli Studio created OBJECT PERMANENCE as a visual narrative of the legendary westward journey along Route 66 to the California Coast. The 12’ tall by 8’ wide artwork is sited in the lobby of the new Marriott Hotel along Route 66 in downtown Santa Monica. It juxtaposes video shot along the historic route with data-driven animations tied to the ebb and flow of the Pacific Ocean where Route 66, the Highway of Dreams, meets the coast at the Santa Monica Pier just blocks away.

Goals

The interior design was inspired by the hotel’s location along Route 66 and the historic journey to the west coast. In our initial meeting with the design team we discussed how the artwork could bring that historic journey to life.

During the production phase we traveled Route 66 and shot video along the way. We then layered our aerial & 4K video footage with data-driven animations we created in the studio. We juxtaposed that imagery with photographs and video we shot over the course of a year along the coast of Santa Monica.

The Realtime oceanographic data informs the rhythms and colors of the piece as its custom platform creates an ever-changing fusion of nature, culture and abstraction. Data driven animations are tied to the tide levels, wave height, currents, temperature and turbulence of the Pacific Ocean just a few blocks from the hotel. 

Process

We worked closely with the Project Design Team from concept phase through installation to ensure that the concept remained cohesive.
Our studio production team spent 12 months creating the “journey” and documenting the coast of Santa Monica with aerial and 4K videography equipment. Technically this project has many parts that all needed to come together in realtime. We worked closely with our developer Tommy Etkin on an interface that would seamlessly harnesses and analyze the incoming data and transform it into a generative artwork. A custom platform layered the realtime content with pre-rendered video to create Object Permanence.