Roca Beijing X Mad Architects
Beijing
Architects: Ma Yansong / MAD Architects
Mission: Artistic direction
Dates: Launched in 2017
MAD Architects’s Roca Beijing Gallery is a project consisting of an unobstructed gallery space that opens up to its urban environment; behind double-height glazing, the interior walls of both of the gallery’s floors, finished with a screen of LEDs, become a new façade for the city.
The multimedia surface is intended to provide spectators accessible, vibrant glimpses into projected realities that challenge their senses and their rectilinear environments – creating an atmosphere that is a fluid mixture of light, movement, and people.
The content of the screens – such as simulated depictions of people using the showrooms – playfully connects the Roca Beijing Gallery’s internal spaces.
The gallery also projects images of nature, simulating different weather conditions and seasons – such as the falling of rain, or the emulation of sunshine – according to the actual weather conditions in that precise moment in the city of Beijing. Designed by art critic and curator Jérôme Sans, the installation changes with the passing of seconds, minutes, and days.
