The Astoria home of the Museum of the Moving Image is expanding, and when it reopens in 2009 it will feature high-tech upgrades that will turn the facility into a virtual environment of moving images. So it seemed fitting that for the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday night, the city and museum officials used video-game controllers to guide digital shovels on a screen. Designed specially for the occasion by Frederick Kirschner, the remotes were shovel-shaped, motion-sensing Wii controllers from Nintendo.
The new home—a $65 million project designed by Leeser Architecture—will double the space of the current museum, adding several new components including a 10,000-square-foot outdoor garden, a 264-seat theater, and new equipment to allow video to be projected on surfaces throughout, filling the museum with, well, moving images..
The new home—a $65 million project designed by Leeser Architecture—will double the space of the current museum, adding several new components including a 10,000-square-foot outdoor garden, a 264-seat theater, and new equipment to allow video to be projected on surfaces throughout, filling the museum with, well, moving images..
The digital groundbreaking ceremony
Photo: Ixiana Hernandez/Courtesy of Museum of the Moving Image
City Council member Peter F. Vallone Jr. and architect Thomas Leeser used game controllers to "dig" and "build" the museum.
Photo: Ixiana Hernandez/Courtesy of Museum of the Moving Image
A rendering of the 264-seat theater, which will be lined with triangular blue-felt panels.
Rendering: Courtesy of Leeser Architecture/Museum of the Moving Image
