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3-D Video Projection on UT Tower Tuesday and Wednesday Nights

Photo by KUT News

The University of Texas Tower will serve as a canvas for some innovative three-dimensional video art this week as part of a promotion being filmed for ESPN’s Longhorn Network. 

This isn’t 3-D video in the sense that you need glasses to observe it. Rather, the video is “mapped” to fit the dimensions of the building upon which it is being projected.

“It’s basically smoke and mirrors,” said Ricardo Rivera, a self-taught video artist and founder of Klip Collective, the production company behind the projection. “You bring something that’s inanimate, like a building, to life.”

Klip animated the rotunda of the advertising firm GSD&M during SXSW this year. Here’s a video showing what it looked like.

Klip producers will test the projection tonight from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. Then they’ll actually film it starting Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and wrapping up at 6 a.m. Thursday.

It will cover the southern and eastern facades of the Main Building Tower, but it might not be visible from long distances.

“It’s reflected light. The farther away, the less you’re going to see of it,” Rivera said.

Here is some more of Klip’s work:

Nathan Bernier is the transportation reporter at KUT. He covers the big projects that are reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion dollar transit expansion Project Connect. He also focuses on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. Got a tip? Email him at nbernier@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @KUTnathan.
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