Several experience hubs, a guided tour through future urban scenarios, a gigantic media installation framed by the Festhalle's imposing architecture.Beyond the car – The Future of Mobility.
For the third time since 2015, we developed the media design and sound concept for this year’s Mercedes-Benz appearance in Frankfurt, in cooperation with Atelier Markgraph.
The stage concept featured a fascinating architectural approach: individual 'experience hubs', built adjacent to one another, formed a gigantic media installation through the use of LED panels mounted on their reverse. The visitor was first led through these hubs – all of them were dedicated to current topics like sustainability, smart city and mobility concepts. After leaving the last hub, the visitor finally ended up on the main stage – to be overwhelmed by the giant media installation: ‘The Big Picture’.
For this installation, we developed an elaborate city environment, in which four different stories dealing with the topics of electromobility and Big Data were presented – including live-performances and embedded real-footage of everyday scenes and encounters between people and products: the so-called 'casual moments' produced by raid-films. During the 30 minute long show, the viewer travelled from a location in the countryside, to a large square in the middle of the Green City ...
... then the viewer experienced the energy that pulsed through the Night City’s streets to finally arrive in the Cloud City – an abstract representation of the city's digital infrastructure.
After completing this journey, the lights in the Festhalle were blacked out.Time for the highlight show on the main stage: the world premiere of the VISION EQS show car – a milestone on the road to Mercedes’ future in the field of electric mobility. Our aim whilst producing this piece was to create highly aesthetic analogies between the vehicle’s interior design and its initial sources of inspiration:maritime and aquatic worlds.
In addition to the main stage, we were also responsible for one of the hubs: the 'Responsible Hub'. Built as an interactive and immersive stage, the visitor could experience a guided tour through future urban scenarios.
Due to the fact that these scenarios are based on prognosis, we created an abstract, graphic 3D model that could change its shape into detailed visions of prototypical urban places. Thus, the visitor could experience selective time jumps to the near future, where quality of life and the human being itself are brought back into focus.
The highlight of the 'Responsible Hub' was the so-called 'Big Moment'.All LED walls played together in an orchestrated, immersive and graphic choreography.
These graphic worlds referred to the topics covered by the guided tour: Electric Mobility, Intermodal Mobility, Cooperative Mobility and Autonomous Mobility.
The soundtracks and sound FX were written and produced by us as well.
For the ‘City Moments’ on the main stage, we chose a rather atmospheric approach.Starting with a peaceful and dreamy ambiance for the ‘Green City’, the music then evolved into a piece with a moody and noir vibe for the ‘Night City’. On arrival in the ‘Cloud City’, a rumbling sub-bass combined with otherworldly pads and ‘glassy’ sounds evoked a feeling of science-fiction.
For the world premiere of the 'VISION EQS' we composed a rhythmic song with a mysterious undertone – perfectly suited to the underwater content, which then developed into a piece with an epic ending.
'Micro Macro’ created a playful atmosphere through the use of chopped up vocal recordings combined with laidback percussion elements.
For the ‘Big Moment’ in the ‘Responsible Hub’ we wrote a piece with an abstract and digital aesthetic, which surprised with its unexpected musical structure.
project: Mercedes-Benz IAA 2019 – Media Design 'Big Picture' & 'Trust Hub'client: Atelier Markgraph, Frankfurtconcept for media content and presentation: Atelier Markgraph & MONOMANGOcreative direction MONOMANGO: Lois Kainhubermusic concept & direction: Olivier Fröhlichcreative producer: Veith Michel3D Visualisation: Tim Stolzenburg
big picture:
art direction / lead artist: nino MattheyMotion design & CGI: Jonathan Margies, Hugo Moraismusic composition & SFX: Olivier Fröhlich, Simon WalbrookFilm production 'casual moments': Raid Films
Responsible HUB:
Art Direction / Lead Artist: Jan WeberMotion design & CGI: Yves Yates, Helmut Breinedermusic composition & SFX: Olivier Fröhlich, Jan Siebert, Simon Walbrook
world premiere Vision EQS:
Art Direction: Julia ParchimowiczMotion Design & CGI: Fabio Medrano, Michael Tan, Amando Rosalesmusic composition & sfx: Olivier Fröhlich
