Max Hattler's laser light graphics

Roll by the Kings Cross Filling Station in London this week, and you can take in a stunning laser light motion graphic sequence created by the experimental artist Max Hattler. With the animation developed in Flash, the imagery was projected through a 10x15 metre 'hydro wall' that was sprayed up out of the Regents Canal, which is just outside the venue. The impressive dusk show was captured from multiple angles then edited down to form the atmospheric film you can view below.

Four stills from the Flash video that was projected onto the water.

Four stills from the Flash video that was projected onto the water.

Entitled X, the film has some strong concepts behind it too. There appear to be relationships between the shapes as they move. Some spark off one another, others overlap or meld together - it's the notion of geometric choreography. However the location also influenced Hattler's thinking. Kings Cross Filling Station - aka KXFS - is now a bar and pizza joint, but it was once a working petrol station.

Hattler continues: "The starting point for me was oil and water, referencing Regent's Canal and the history of KXFS as a petrol station. Oil and water are essentially opposing elements struggling for balance. This then developed more broadly into ideas around visualising the balancing of different elements within a system. The end result of the work is completely abstracted into the kinetic relationships of basic shapes, the movement and energy balances of geometric systems."

To turn the ideas into reality, Hattler worked with animators using Adobe Flash. He produced key frames and directions on the kind of motion he wanted, and they'd create it, with some fine-tuning from the director along the way.

X is the first of six cultural projects in the Vauxhall Ampera Season, showing at KXFS in North London over the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

TOPICS
Creative Bloq Staff
All things Creative Bloq

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of art and design enthusiasts, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson, Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The ImagineFX magazine team also pitch in, ensuring that content from leading digital art publication ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.