Aktuelle News & Schlagzeilen

TDC’s use of laser projection technology sets continued focus on sustainability at Sydney Festival

Technical Direction Company (TDC) has announced its biggest involvement yet in Sydney Festival, a city-wide celebration of culture, creativity and live performance. TDC is a provider of event and entertainment technology solutions and sponsor of Sydney Festival.

Its team of technicians prepared creative design technology and projection mapping expertise showcased at multiple events across Sydney from 5-29 January 2023 including the “Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon” exhibition and the mythic new opera epic “Antarctica”. “We are very excited to be a Sydney Festival partner once again in 2023”, says TDC Technical Project Manager Chris Fitzgerald. “It gave us an opportunity to work in collaboration with some leading artists from all over the world using the latest projection mapping techniques and LED technology.”

Co-created by the Frida Kahlo Corporation and Spanish digital arts company Layers of Reality, the multi-sensory experience “Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon” features nine transformational spaces, from collections of historical photographs and original films, holography, 360-degree projections and a virtual reality system that transports visitors inside Kahlo’s most famous works. Barco G62-W11 laser projectors were rigged by a bespoke TDC system and played back using the latest high-powered media servers.

“There are seamless floor and wall projections and unusual projection surfaces which took around a week of installation to set up and install”, explains Chris Fitzgerald. “In creating the project, we worked closely with the Frida Kahlo Corporation and Layers of Reality to deliver a quick turnaround in a matter of weeks. We opted for laser because the technology lifts the colour and resolution of the projections and does so with a reduction in energy consumption.”

“Antarctica”, a new opera by Australian composer Mary Finsterer and librettist Tom Wright, performed on home soil for the first time during Sydney Festival 2023 and featuring Dutch new music ensemble Asko/Schönberg. “Antarctica” is performed on a futuristic digital set the backdrop for which is a 12 m x 9 m Roe BQ4 Black Quartz LED wall specified, supplied and installed by TDC.

The opera’s musical palette is amplified by the sounds of the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic itself. The LED screen is used as a set piece as well as an animated display whereby performers can enter and exit the stage through walkways created within the screen. “‘Antarctica’ is an immersive experience for which we adapted an installation from the debut performance in the Netherlands”, comments Francis Smith, Technical Project Manager, TDC. “The screen sits in front of the scaffolding with elements of the set emerging onto stage through cut outs.”

TDC is supporting numerous additional Festival experiences including “Virgil: Awaken” held looking across the shoreline and at the island Me-Mel (formerly Goat Island), at Barangaroo Reserve and for the projection of Dyin Hura (Women’s Place) on the facade of the oldest surviving public building, Old Government House in Parramatta Park.

(Photos: Wendell Teodoro/Sydney Festival)

www.tdc.com.au

© 1999 - 2024 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories