Page 65 - Advertising Annual 55

CHICAGO DESIGNERS
in the Chicago studio Thirst. “First sax and then percussion. My father was the house drummer for a band that was driven by rhythm, so music was all around us, ... but I had a passion for art and design. Growing up, I was always dreaming up preposterous schemes to do both.”
Preposterous mission accomplished. What he calls “intermedia,” the merging of creative disciplines, comes naturally to him, especially in the space where the musical and the visual inspire each other. “I have a background in both music and design,” says the classically trained Pobojewski, “so a lot of my work bridges those two worlds, either in making sound visual, in creating soundscapes, or in exploring animated environments, textures and themes. I’m fascinated by how music and sound can evolve imagery; so early on, I developed an interest in programming code to manipulate visuals with sound.”
His modal and rhythmic sensibilities are as evident in work that incorporates music—which Pobojewski himself composes, often using code—as in projects that have no auditory component. An example of the latter is the revamp of Terminal 5 in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a project that inspired Pobojewski to say he was “emotionally invested.”
For Terminal 5, Thirst envisioned a series of murals that would evoke both the city and the experience of flight, and the studio worked closely with the space’s architects, Westfield Corp., to accomplish this. The entry mural is translucent, setting up a visual rhythm using software written by the designers. This evolves into a low hallway lined in ceramic frit tiles that form an abstracted aerial view of the city and its lakefront—a symphony of
Left: “The Modern Ball in the Modern Wing is an annual event hosted by the Architecture & Design Society at the Art Institute of Chicago. For the 2014 ball, we designed a series of interactive cards and animations as the identity campaign. The abstract patterns become animated as the cards are pulled from their sleeves. In conjunction with the printed materials, a mobile app served as the event takeaway.” Cameron Brand/ Alexa Viscius, designers; Jeremiah Chiu/Renata Graw, creative directors; Art Institute of Chicago, client.
“‘Smartphone Symphony,’ by artist and musician Jeremiah Chiu, is
a participatory, chance music performance via your smartphone. Using smartphone web browsers, audience members follow a loose set of instructions to immerse themselves in a series of audio-visual patterns of indeterminate overlap. ‘Smartphone Symphony’ has been performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, in the Public Works Art Gallery as part of the New Nature exhibition by Plural and at Comfort Station as part of the Comfort series of performances and discussions curated by the Post Family artists’ collective.” Jeremiah Chiu, creative director.
This page: “solarise: a sea of all colors is Luftwerk’s site-specific creation in response to the Garfield Park Conservatory’s historic structure and natural collection. The identity campaign supporting solarise reflects the simple geometric shapes used throughout the art installation.” Alexa Viscius, designer; Jeremiah Chiu/Renata Graw, creative directors; Garfield Park Conservatory, client.
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