The Car Park With an “Electronic Mural”

CALIFORNIA-BASED artist duo Ueberall, together with E-Ink Corporation and artists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab have created an interactive mural on the facade of San Diego International Airport’s rental car center.

Called “Dazzle”, the artwork features over 2,100 E-Ink tiles - technology routinely used in e-readers - affixed to the rental car centre’s 1,600-foot long elevation.

Above: The car rental centre at San Diego's international airport was fitted with an interactive, electronic mural. Below: Called "Dazzle", the artwork consists of 2,100 individually solar-powered E-Ink panels (images courtesy of San Diego International Airport).

The parallelogram-shaped tiles are powered by solar cells, and are connected to a computer, which can choose from 15 pre-set programmes to graphically animate the facade.

Above: The panels work in synchronicity and respond to changing weather, road and airplane traffic conditions (image courtesy of San Diego International Airport).

Additionally, the animations will be looped dynamically, using an autonomous feedback based on weather conditions, airport activity and traffic, generating new loop variations to the existing ones.

Above: E-Ink panels do not produce ambient light and are not distracting to the drivers on the adjacent freeway (image courtesy of San Diego International Airport).

Unlike conventional screens, E-Ink does not produce ambient light, and only absorbs or reflects it, meaning it is not a distraction to drivers on the adjacent freeway.

Above: The installation is energy-neutral and cost a fraction of the overall building budget (image courtesy of San Diego International Airport).

The artistic installation cost USD $875,000 to produce and install. By comparison, the construction of the rental car centre cost USD $316 million.