Six-thousand watched the ’moving’ Academy

Out of almost 500 entries, the jury of the competition had selected 12 animations for the finals. The 3-minute-long video projections, with back-up music, were shaking, twisting and turning the pillars and facade of the grandiose building. Colourful circles, geometrical shapes were dancing on the 1000 squaremeters, fire was burning down the house and life was going on as usual behind the windows – only in a virtual sense, of course.

The first prize-winner was ”One night” by András Miklós Balogh and Zoltán Kovács, the second prize went to Ádám Besenyői and his ”Nature of science”, while László Czigány came in third with ”Szimplikátum”. The public voted for ”Hungarikum” by Benedek Pozsgay, and two more entries also received a special prize. As a real curiosity, the internationally acclaimed Zsolt Bordos (Bordos Artworks) and his creative colleagues Ivó Kovács, Dániel Szalkó and Demeter Lóránt (the latter being the winner of Paint Up! 2010) had brought an animation especially made for this occassion.

Architectural projection (also called projection mapping or building projection mapping) had been quite unheard-of in Hungary before the Paint Up! competition finals. Projection mapping goes beyond mere colour painting: the main idea is that the projected animations are designed in accordance with the architecture of the building. They are playing with light, shadows and space in a creative way so that viewers have the illusion that the building is actually ’moving’.

In 2010, Visualpower Ltd. announced the first architertural projection competition in the world. This year’s competition was a huge success again. As the main organiser Tünde Vaskó claimed, Paint Up! had been a real success-story, hopefully to be continued next year, and the organisers are honoured that the closing programme of the EU presidency could be this unique event.