A video of a lighting illusion projected onto a tower has gone viral with a false claim that it shows the lighting at Jodhpur’s Umaid Palace.
The viral video actually shows an artists’ team, Cream Studio's art installation for the Istanbul Youth Festival's promotional campaign in 2018. The studio had created a ‘3D projection mapping experience’ for one of the highest and oldest towers of Istanbul, Galata Tower.
CLAIM
The video was shared with the claim, “यह जोधपुर का उमेद पैलेस किला है इसकी लाइटिंग देखिए लगेगा जैसे गुंबद गिर रहा है इसे देखने का किराया ₹3000”
(Translation: “This is the Umaid Palace Fort in Jodhpur. Its lighting looks as if the dome is falling. The cost to see it is Rs 3,000”)
The video was also viral with the same claim in February and March.
The Quint also received a query regarding the video on its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A reverse image search led us to a video uploaded on a user-generated short video hosting platform, gfycat with the caption, “Galata Tower 3D Light Show in Istanbul, Turkey GIF”
A keyword search of the same led us to a press release on the Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi (The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s) website, stating that a video mapping show would take place at the Galata Tower to promote the Istanbul Youth Festival for 10 days in April 2018.
IBB had also tweeted a video of the same in May 2018. The viral video being shared as Jodhpur’s Umaid Palace, begins at around 18 seconds into the original video.
We also found the full video of the 3D projection mapping experience on Cream Studio’s – the artists’ team behind the art installation – website.
In a conversation with The Quint’s WebQoof team, the group also confirmed that the art installation was done for the Instanbul Youth Festival.
An article in the monthly American magazine, LiveDesign explains that the studio had created a “dynamic, 3D art installation that was projected onto the side of Galata Tower, using Maxon Cinema 4D, Redshift, and the mapping software Dataton Watchout.”
We also looked up images of the Galata Tower on Google Maps and found that it looks similar to the tower in the viral video.
Further, we found that Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur is a privately owned residential place, a part of which is managed by luxury hotel chain, Taj Hotels.
Photos of the Umaid Palace on Taj Hotel’s website and Google Maps show that it does not have a solitary tower like the one in the viral video.
Evidently, the viral video of an art installation in Istanbul has been shared with a false claim that it is from Jodhpur.
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