The Requirement
As part of the ‘Follow the Star’ Christmas campaign, Liverpool City Council commissioned Adlib, who worked together with local artist Sam Wiehl, to create an audio-visual installation that would complement the visuals on display in Liverpool City Centre.
Set to fight against the hustle and bustle that is ever present on the Liverpudlian high street, the meditative audio-visual installation was to run every day for 8 weeks. Prolonged operation posed potential challenges in required maintenance, whilst having a large-scale projection system set up in a busy, urban environment was also something that the Adlib team had to take care with.
The Solution
Adlib’s projection mapping specialists tackled the problem with a solution that included four Panasonic RZ21K 20,000 lumen projectors that were stacked on top of each other, shooting down onto the building opposite.
Driven by Dataton’s WATCHPAX 4 system, the installation utilised the media server’s four WUXGA/HD outputs. The top two were blended with the bottom two, with an overlap in the middle, to create the required square projection canvas.
The projection set-up was chosen to avoid obstacles such as trees and lamppost. Close attention was paid to the way the projectors were lined up, accounting for windows and window ledges to provide seamless projection of content.
Adlib's video team selected Panasonic RZ21K laser projectors for this project due to their ability to provide much better colour output and contrast when compared to lamp-based equivalents. This resulted in excellent clarity in a challenging environment with consistent light output over the 8 week installation.
The Panasonic RZ21K projectors require very little maintenance, are incredibly robust, operate at low temperature, and have the ability to turn on and off quickly and regularly without damaging the light source, which makes them an ideal fit for this kind of installation.
The Result
The Adlib team, together with Sam Wiehl, realised an installation that steered away from traditional Christmas conventions and helped people rushing around the city centre to take a moment to stop, watch the projection, and get lost in the ambient landscape, before carrying on with their business.
“Fantastically different” as it was called, the Celestial Light installation encapsulated the city’s progressive and creative spirit, showcasing what can be achieved when the latest audio-visual technology is combined with a desire of creating that extra bit of magic during the most hectic part of the year.
