MSC Memory Cloud activates, interacts with passersby

Tradition, technology and engineering fused to create the “Memory Cloud” art piece recently featured in the 12th Man Hall in the Memorial Student Center.

The light and video functions of the hanging art piece will be activated at 9:30 a.m. Friday after a ceremony in the J. Wayne Stark Galleries. Projections of archival video footage, combined with a live feed of students walking by, will flow across the cloud’s abstract surface.

In 2012, Memory Cloud design won a sculpture competition held by the University Art Galleries. Since then, four architects labored to construct a durable and lightweight structure that reflected their winning idea.

Andrew Vrana, Class of 1993, and Joe Meppelink of Metalab, a Houston-based architecture, civic art and product design studio, have worked alongside Norman Lee and Shane Allbritton since Feb. 2012 to design and assemble the massive combination of carbon steel piping, LED lights and differently sized translucent discs.

The camera for Memory Cloud will be positioned on the second floor ceiling of the MSC. The artists chose to move the camera away from the hanging art to encourage passersby to glance directly at the piece.

Kelly Smith, senior kinesiology major, said she liked the past and present aspect of the piece.

“I think that there are a lot of places in the MSC that reflect past students, so it’s kind of cool that, if it’s projecting current students, it kind of binds them all together.”

Bill Becker, sophomore Blinn Team student, said he appreciates how the art piece displays symbols of tradition at A&M.

“I think that it adds to the fact that it’s a living memorial because it brings in the rest of campus – bringing the outside inside. The MSC is kind of the center of campus anyway.”

Vrana said the images associated with the University have remained the same through the years, but he hopes Aggies will be open to new icons on campus.

“We want this element in the MSC to motivate Aggies to look forward,” Vrana said. “You look around campus and all of the statues are very traditional. By showing that past, present and future can all be combined, the Memory Cloud might change Aggies’ perspective about tradition.”