Video: “4D mapping” on Praetorian Building in downtown Dallas looks pretty neat

by Patrick Kennedy of Walkable Dallas-Fort Worth

Especially if it turns out to be a one-time work of art.

So this happened last night...

“4D” mapping on the Praetorian Building

And it is very cool indeed. However, I worry will this lead to every building in downtown lighting up like Christmas trees? I've already heard of rumors of buildings selling their "skin" to advertisers, to become little more than phallic billboards.

And then I wonder, is that so bad? And why not?

This was a one-time work of art. To see it ever again would lose some of its luster, like a shiny object to children ... but not to fish, because those scaly idiots have no long-term memory. To see Inception 2 won't be terribly interesting because what new ground are they going to break? The story's lack of depth was belied by the visual games. But yet it was cool to see. Will I own it on blu-ray? Yes. Will I readily watch it over and over and plumb it for intricacies like I might with personal favorites like Children of Men or City of God?

Then I think about what a Roman or Parisian would say if he/she/they were to visit Dallas and the entire city looked like the bottom of a Christmas tree, the morning of. Like kids to that shiny object, we point in wonderment and spectacle. However, all we really want to do is tear off that wrapping paper and have something underneath worth treasuring and caring for and to share that feeling with others, our brother and sister citizens of the city.

What used to be Fountainplace is now the buy-1-get-1-latte-free at Starbucks. By then it might even be the Idiocracy version of a latte if we let the tawdry and banal take its natural copycat course.

For this to happen, we would have to see no value in the facades of our buildings. And that plastering buy 1, get 1 ads at a price is seen as profit, not a loss. Would we paint over the Wilson building with Black Friday specials at Target?

Tackiness for sure, but wouldn't it be better to have buildings worth caring about?

(Editor's note: and by tackiness I'm referring to the dystopian future of every building turned billboard.)