Last weekend saw the celebration of Chinese New Year commencing worldwide. 2022 is the year of the Tiger, overtaking the 2021 zodiac of the Ox. The traditional Chinese Lunisolar calendar begins in February and begins on the new moon.
That left February 1st as the beginning of the celebrations for 2022, making the first weekend of the month the perfect time to host the festivities. In keeping with this, St. Lukes Bombed Out Church in Liverpool, which is just a stone’s throw from the city’s Chinatown, hosted a weekend filled with community spirit and enjoyment. Over 1,500 people flocked to the installation, which saw powerful animations projected onto the north tower of the historic landmark, including traditional Chinese lanterns adorned with children’s illustrations. These creations came from children attending four local primary schools to celebrate the traditions and cultures behind Chinese New Year. Many were able to recognise their own artwork come to life as it floated across the building.
To bring their idea to life, many organisations in Liverpool came together to involve Chinese art and youth groups. They looked to the help of local company Focal Studios, who set up three powerful projectors, clocking in at 21,000 lumens each, to cast the complex, projection-mapped sequence across the site. This created a brightly coloured and striking exhibition. The designs were based on traditional Chinese colours, even sampling Chinatown’s Arch, and featured the water tiger to depict the year’s zodiac.
To achieve this, a 3D model of the church was captured using a drone and photogrammetry data, and this was used as a template for the animations. The sequence featured a scene in which the building crumbles as the zodiac symbols surged, animated by Scenegraph Studios using physics simulations. Everything was expertly crafted by the team at Focal, who are pioneering video mapping, including oriental musical compositions arranged by their in-house composer.
Overall, the event was a huge success, and everyone in attendance seemed pleased with the huge efforts that went into making it possible. Huge thanks to James, Dennis, Laura and Jess from Focal for taking me through the creative process and for all of their efforts to make this project possible.
0 Comments