Hurrairah bin Sohail discovers how the work of Viennese artists was brought to the digital realm and showcased in an underground bunker on the island of Jeju, Korea.
Art might be universal, but artwork itself is constrained by ph If you want to see the Mona Lis ysical limitations. a in its full
glory you have to visit the Louvre
in Paris, France. Is there a way to
flip this scenario and bring art to
the masses?
Culturespaces specialises in
delivering engaging experiences
and management for monuments,
museums, exhibitions and art
centres. It contemplated whether
the experience of art could be
digitised and hence be made
available to a wider audience.
Augustin De Cointet, who is
the multimedia project director
at Culturespaces, comments:
“Approximately six years ago,
we started to develop a digital
exhibition in order to increase the
number of visitors to museums we
managed and to promote the mass
appreciation of art. We wanted to
make the art more accessible and
available to people who wanted to
experience it.”
Culturespaces has been putting
its work into application. In
partnership with TMONET, a
Korean company specialising in
new technologies for the general
public, Bunker de Lumières was
established on the island of Jeju,
Korea. Housed in an underground
design delivered the same results.
Of course, each new space is
totally different. It is impossible
to copy the technical setups over
to the new venue unless the new
venue is exactly the same in terms
of dimensions and that is never
the case.”
Lawrence Ryan was brought
on board by Pixel n’ Pepper to
manage the project on the ground
in Jeju, Korea. Live-Lab, a local
Korean integrator, was tasked
with the responsibility to deploy
and commission Pixel n’ Pepper’s
technical designs for the AV
systems.
Ryan explains his involvement
with the project: “I’ve worked with
Pixel n’ Pepper for about 10 years
across many projects. I was
brought on as a technical director
on site to manage the project and
work with Live-Lab, the Korean
integrator, who were appointed
to deploy and integrate the AV
systems in Jeju for Bunker de
Lumières. I managed the project
on site to make sure that the
vision of Culturespaces and the
work of Pixel n’ Pepper could be
fully implemented.”
Alvin Chu, CEO of Live-Lab,
says: “This was the first time
we were working with Pixel n’
Pepper. But we have worked in
the entertainment and live events
sectors in Korea for years and that
is where our expertise lies. This
project was right up our alley as
we previously have experience
with media servers and our job
was straightforward as we just
had to follow the design and the
technical specifications set out
for us.”
The final purpose of the AV
systems was clear from the start
as De Cointet says: “Immersion is
something that was important for
us. We wanted the visitors to
really take in the art. So, we
focused a lot of energy on
making sure the visuals and the
projection was great. We tried to
be extremely particular about the
colours people would see and the
emotions the painting was trying
to evoke. Getting an emotional
response was essential, because
that is the core function of art and
to do this, we needed immersion.
The function of the audio and the
video was to make sure that the
visitors could focus on the art.”
The main AV component of the
Bunker de Lumières is the visual
system. Ryan talks about the
approach taken: “The heart of
the project is the show control
system. We needed powerful
software and quality media
servers to make sure that the
Bunker de Lumières could come
to life.
“Culturespaces has previously
established similar digital
exhibitions in France. So, they
have had real-world experience
with different media servers
over the years. They know the
importance of a good media
server and decided to upgrade to
the Modulo Kinetic by Modulo Pi
at one of their digital exhibitions
in Paris. The experience with
the product, the quality and the
process of producing the content
convinced them to use it for
Bunker de Lumières as well.”
A total of 24 Modulo Kinetic
VNode media servers and two
Modulo Kinetic designer units
are used at Bunker de Lumières.
Picquet sheds further light on
the critical selection of the media
server system: “The Modulo Pi
Kinetic has the abilities to do it
all. It is timeline based and offers
possibilities of work integration
and calibration. It is also very
good in terms of staging and
reproducing colours, both of which
were necessary for this digital art
exhibition. In my opinion, it is the
most advanced tool that exists on
the market at present. But when
you use it, it is important to have
people on board that know how to
use it properly. Pixel n’ Pepper has
the skills and expertise. Advanced
knowledge is required to make
sure that everything worked
together.
“The Modulo Kinetic also
handles show control. Not only
does it play the audio in addition
to the video, but it is also linked
with the building. For example,
we can get information from the
fire alarm system and in the case
of an emergency it can perform
tasks for the fire alarm scenario.”
Ryan provides further details:
“The master designer is where it
all begins. We programmed the
interface, created the timeline
and put all the video content in
place. You can view the previews
in 3D and you can plan how
everything will work in real time.”
The VNodes are linked to four
Opticis OMM-2500 video matrix
switchers. The switchers were
chosen due to their ability to
provide direct fibre output.
Ryan says: “A large portion of
the projectors are running in real
time. So the infrastructure used
for video transmission had to be
able to handle that.”
Chu says: “Opticis is a Korean
manufacturer and we are quite
familiar with its products. Using
its matrix switchers and cabling
made sense and we were able to
proceed with the installation
without any difficulties.”
Epson EB-L1105U projectors
serve as the end-points for the
video system. The choice of
projectors and lenses was crucial
in overcoming a critical challenge
faced. Ryan says: “Originally,
we were planning to use Barco
projectors. But due to the specific
nature of the bunker, with its low
ceiling which only measures 5.5m
high and the pillars that are
present, we needed a specific
angle of projection and a very
specific aspect ratio. Epson
projectors, at the time of the
project, were the only ones that
could meet our requirements
for projection.”
Choices also had to be made
with regards to the final aesthetic
that was to be presented for
the people visiting Bunker de
Lumières. Ryan says: “The bunker
has a very unique atmosphere and
we had a decision to make. Do we
leave the walls as they were or
treat them to improve the surface
for projection? In the end we
decided to leave the walls as they
were and maintain the exposed
concrete look of the bunker. The
walls were smooth enough to offer
no problems for projection.”
Audio has also been given
considerable consideration.
De Cointet says: “When creating
these exhibitions and the shows,
we pay real attention to the
audio. The first consideration
is the quality of the sound. The
second is to spatialise it and to
have the sound move with the
images.”
He continues: “If you climb
a mountain, the main impact
that you sense is made by the
scenery. But sometimes the
wind will blow and create a
murmur and you will hear it
and then it dies away. This
gives a new dimension to your
experience that might not
be instantly recognisable but
it is still an important part.
We wanted to have the same
thing for Bunker de Lumières.
We wanted the visitor experience
to be something that you
discover, something that is
always new and something that
becomes more complete as time
goes by and you think about it.”
Sound is provided by 58 Nexo
iD24i speakers powered by six
Nexo NXAMP 4x4 amplifiers.
To conclude, Picquet says: “The
overall experience of working on
the project was very good. We
found extremely professional
people to partner with in the shape
of Live-Lab. The project started on
time and was completed on time
and the results are exactly what
we expected. It was a team effort,
and everyone was involved, and
everyone played their part to
perfection.”