London Design Festival 2012: Keiichi Matsuda's "Prism" at the V&A Museum

Posted by Sam Dunne | 20 Sep 2012 | Comments (0)

Celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year, London Design Festival is finally in full swing. What better place for us to join in the festivities than the beautiful V&A museum, home of the festival for the fourth year running.

We were fortunate to be amongst the first to behold London-based designer and film-maker Keiichi Matsuda's enormous digital installation, "Prism," hidden away in the V&A's cupola roof space, a part of the museum never before made open to the public.

Presenting "an alternative view of London," Keiichi's formidable installation—constructed from a 2 tonne steel frame, bespoke Japanese paper, an aluminum structure and 5 projection units—visualizes vast swathes of publicly available data, from humidity and pollution levels, to energy usage in No. 10, Downing Street, and even the number of Boris bikes currently in use.

You might be wondering how this enormous piece made it up to the roof rafters of an enourmous Victorian edifices. As Keiichi informed us, and his stunning making-of video on Wallpaper* illustrates, all the materials and projectors were carefully hoisted through the tiny gaps in floors of the building.

As if the sculpture wasn't enough, the 'Prism' tour is worth a visit just for a glimpse of the terrace space that Keiichi has been using as a temporary studio space whilst constructing his work.

Keiichi showing off his temporary rooftop studio to his mum and sister.