With less than one week to go until the lights ignite Vivid Sydney 2016, TDC - Technical Direction Company is working closely with organisers to deliver record-breaking technical production.
After 11 months of planning and research into new technology and trends, TDC, the company behind the projection of amazing visual illuminations and interactive technology, is finalizing their design for city-wide multimedia that will be deployed across the festival’s footprint and brought together with participating local and international artists and designers.
Some fun facts about what goes on behind the scenes includes: TDC employs 35 staff working full-time to produce a massive 11,500-meters square of video projection in excess of 120 million pixels. Over 70 projectors will be deployed in custom-made projection towers located in and around Sydney.
TDC’s work will be found on some of Sydney’s most iconic buildings and locations including the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Customs House, Cadmans Cottage, Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon for Bangarra Dance Theatre, Taronga Zoo Centenary Celebrations, Central Park precinct, AMP Building for the McGrath Foundation, The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney precinct and Darling Harbour precinct.
Whilst the exact nature is a closely guarded secret until opening night, TDC is central to several Vivid Sydney technical firsts including:
- World’s first-ever multi-viewer augmented reality activation that combines tablet technology, developed by Huawei and Spinifex, adding even more wow-factor to the large-format video projection by TDC at Customs House.
- Giant multimedia projections at Garden of Light at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, with
Ample Projects. - Unprecedented interactive installation where the audience will literally have control over the video including Cadmans Cottage at IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE, created by Propaganda Mill.
- A technical first for Vivid Sydney, the Laser-Dragon Water-Theatre in Darling Harbour will see TDC project onto a water screen mounted on a 13-meter robotic arm that floats high above 56 fountains and 22 flame jets, deployed by Oracle Liquid. At Eyes on the Harbour, visitors’ faces will also be captured and projected onto a water-theatre using Intel RealSense technology.
- At Central Park, TDC will project Ample Project’s X-Factory onto the Heritage-listed Carlton & United Brewery building, telling a story about the shift to computational technologies, and sustainability.
Ignatius Jones, Creative Director of Vivid Sydney explained: “We work closely with TDC to constantly break new boundaries in technology and to develop immersive experiences each year in the festival’s delivery of creativity and innovation. Vivid Sydney inspires, entertains and exemplifies the emerging technologies that are changing our world. It is a celebration that will blow away all who behold it.”
“All technical elements have been meticulously planned prior to the event. Only in Sydney will you be able to experience an event on this scale, size and technical complexity,” added Michael Hassett, CEO at TDC.
Vivid Sydney is the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas and runs over 23 nights from 27 May to 18 June. The event is owned, managed and produced by, Destination NSW, the State Government’s tourism and major events agency.
