Sehsucht: Konzerthaus Dortmund “Black Poem”

This stunning promo from Sehsucht for the Konzerthaus Dortmund concert hall celebrates a new season of musical performances with a lyrical ode to fire. It’s a perfect example of Sehsucht’s inventive approach to motion design, one that blurs the line between real and unreal as abstraction becomes literal.

This isn’t the first time that Sehsucht has worked their magic for Konzerthaus Dortmund and agency Jung von Matt. Like last year’s effort, “Black Poem” uses a natural phenomenon as a medium, pushing it to lyrical extremes that extend the beauty of the spot’s soundtrack. This year’s muse was Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say, whose wild fugues fueled the project’s impassioned permutations of fire.

It’s rare that a work of motion graphics actually quickens my pulse, but this one manages it. The editorial pacing combined with the increasingly frantic camera work and animation creates a mounting sense of exhilaration that creeps into your bloodstream before hitting your heart like a hammer. Beautiful stuff. Sehsucht remains one of my favorite studios not just in Europe, but in the world.

Credits
Client: Konzerthaus Dortmund

Agency:
Jung von Matt

Director, 3D&2D Animation, Compositing: Niko Tziopanos
Art Direction, 3D&2D Animation, Compositing: Alexander Heyer
Art Direction, 2D Animation, Compositing: Martin Hess
Art Direction: Alexander Hanowski
2D Animation: Tom Abel
Compositing, Rotoscoping: Daniel Hummer
Compositing, Rotoscoping: Alexander Saum
Producer: Kristina Neurohr