Signal Festival 2016
The SIGNAL festival lit up Prague for the fourth time, confirming it to be one of the most popular cultural events in the Czech Republic. According to initial estimates, it attracted more than 600,000 visitors.
Over four evenings the streets and public spaces of Prague, its most famous historic landmarks and lesser-known corners were transformed by Czech and world-renowned leaders in lighting design of art objects and spaces that capture the different faces of the contemporary and historical centre in unconventional forms. The visitors were able to see twenty-three installations, where they could see, for example, four video mapping projections, one of them in 3D, lasers or special screenings in the Signal Dome. AV Media has become a technology partner of the Signal festival this year, where they provided the technology for a total of five installations:
Signal Dome
The unique spherical SIGNAL Dome offered a special 360° projection, literally pulling the audience into the story. It was first discovered at the festival last year, and the visitors liked it so much that the organizers this time immediately decided to have three different shows. The image in the Signal Dome is similar to a planetarium projected above the heads of the audience, surrounding them by a world full of shapes, lights and images, as if watching the most fantastic night sky. The unforgettable experience in the Signal Dome was handled by five Panasonic PT-DZ21K projectors.
Mutis – Tigrelab
The greatest success was our 3D projection at Tyršův dům called Mutis – Tigrelab. The visitors could watch this project with specially calibrated 3D glasses, which was created as a tribute to the Spanish researcher and botanist Jose Celestine Mutis. Through the scientist’s fictional notebook Mutis, the visitors were provided an audio-visual experience combined with the architecture of unknown alien planets. For this viewers were sent to find out that it all works quite differently. The 3D projection was also handled by Panasonic PT-DZ21K projectors.
Garden in Development – Javier Riera
In this installation, as well as in all his work, the Spanish artist Javier Riera explores the relationship between landscape and its geometry and its intervention of light, which is why they are usually placed in parks and gardens. His work is so close to some of the principles of land art. Four three-chip Barco SLM R12 + projectors with a luminance of 12,000 lumens took care of this original projection.
Noisescape V2 – Teemu Määttänen
Finnish artist Teemu Määttänen created an installation that its shape resembles all sorts of things from hilly landscapes to the wavy ocean. Although the structure itself is completely static, it is set into motion by specially designed illusory projections. It plays a fascinating game of shapes and colours right before the eyes of the spectators and that resemble ornaments once in a kaleidoscope, sometimes in the wild vegetation of a remote jungle, or perhaps elegant Japanese woodcuts. In this minimalist installation, Teemu Määttänen connects organic projections with wavy projection screens, but also hand-painted patterns with computer generated graphics. AV MEDIA provided three Panasonic PT DW740 projectors for this projection.
Reflection Studies / Interactive Edition— Zachary Lieberman
The Reflection Studies project has set a bold goal - to find out if and how we can paint with light. Zachary Lieberman for that purpose has prepared a big light table for visitors to SIGNAL, leaving them to have free rein to their creativity. The installation was developed based on a series of software research on reflected light. This playful interactive installation gave visitors an opportunity to pry, test, but mainly to create with lights and shadows. Thanks to them, the table was constantly changing, and everyone who stood with him became his co-author. For this installation, we chose a Christie Roadster HD18K projector.
If you missed the Signal Festival this year, do not worry. The organizers are already planning next year, which will be held from 12 to 15 October.
