Painting Bruges with Light for 2019 Wintergloed Event

Painting Bruges with Light for 2019 Wintergloed Event posted: 19/12/2019

Painting with Light (PWL) has created a 2-kilometre walk-through lighting and visual experience' in the centre of Bruges - one of Belgium's most beautiful and historic cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site - to add atmosphere, luminosity and magic for the festive Wintergloed' (Winter Glow) season. Commissioned by Bruges Plus, the organisation responsible for the town's cultural events, PWL's winning pitch was led by Peter van den Bosch (business unit manager for leisure & entertainment') and lighting expert Iiris Rousku who designed the various lighting artworks with their team.

It comprises a series of elegant, eye-catching, ephemeral and different lighting and projection-mapped installations, located in six different areas.

Each installation was inspired by an aspect of the warmth and hospitality of the people of Bruges and its many visitors over the different generations.

Different approaches were taken for each work - some can be observed, some can be touched and interacted with and others are fully immersive.

Some add a playful touch, others utilise synesthetic philosophies and ideas related to colour changing and mood empathy, while others riff with nearby textures, materials and natural elements like water reflections.

This, the first edition of Wintergloed includes the lighting of pathways, waterways, streets, buildings and monuments, trees and foliage, bridges and numerous other spaces and objects along the route, plus a special custom construction - The Cathedral - built in the Station Square, which is lit and projection-mapped.

One goal of the overall scheme was enabling visitors to view each piece of art from different angles, encouraging them to keep returning and re-engaging with the possibility of discovering something new each time.

Part of the brief involved encouraging people to walk via Minnewater (Lake of Love) into the city rather than along the street directly from the station.

This new Wintergloed lit environment was crafted primarily for the enjoyment of the citizens of Bruges, rather than just as a magnet attracting additional tourists, so it needed to take a specific and thoughtful approach to impress those already familiar with all the locations to see and relate to their spaces in alternative states.

Mapping Bruges

Projection mapping is involved in two of the installations, the Station Square and the 19 metre high Poertoren Tower, constructed in 1401 by master mason Jan van Oudenaerde to store the city's gunpowder, which is also a remnant of the late-medieval city walls.

An enormous moon is projected onto the tower using a Panasonic RZ projector linked to a Christie Coolux media server. This projection showcases the cycle of the moon over a 12-minute timeframe.

The Station Square installation is extremely prominent. The Cathedral is built from a customisable but off-the-shelf combined wooden / tented structure comprising four elegant arched ends which are 10 metres square and 11 metres high.

PWL chose the structure for its aesthetics and as a practical solution to house the video projection system. The team designed the custom print on the outer skins.

Kris Van de Sande

The full ceiling expanse and all the walls above 4 metres are filled with projections from five Panasonic PT-RQ32 machines rigged inside the structure, crossing over to project on the opposite walls, with the fifth one beaming up into the vaulted roof.

Video content is stored on one of PWL's disguise d3 4x4 media servers and includes drawings and artwork collected from local schoolchildren based on the topic of magical winter animals'. These were coordinated by PWL and Bruges Plus who liaised with local schools. Over 294 kids participated and can see their drawings fall from the sky inside the Cathedral ceiling, and selected images are highlighted each day.

In the evening, content transforms into a dynamic galaxy' created by the motion captured movement of people walking inside and outside the tent caught by a motion Kinekt sensor positioned on top of the tent This galaxy is displayed each day between 7 p.m. and midnight - when the installations are powered off for the night.

The projection elements were installed by Vidi-Square and this part of the Wintergloed 2019 is sponsored by Panasonic.

The cathedral is lit using Chauvet COLORdash Batten-Quad 12 LED battens positioned all around in a curtain of light effect. Robe iPointes are rigged outside the structure to accentuate its central position and draw visitors - like a beacon - from other points around the city.

Painting with VR Light

A major part of the initial Wintergloed concept was to involve local artists and talent in dynamic and engaging ways.

PWL and Bruges Plus also invited selected local street artists to express their creativity using the Cathedral as a canvas but instead of painting with aerosol cans they are doing it with light and via VR!

This event is live on five Saturdays over the duration of the Wintergloed from 7 pm to 9 pm.

The artists paint in the VR environment (The Cathedral) wearing the goggles and their artwork is projected on the ceiling and walls in real-time so the audience can see the process. (They can also observe exactly what the artist is seeing in VR on screens around the space)

PWL has created special light' brushes with different colours and textures the artists can use in the VR world, and as the results are being projected (which is a light source) it is literally painting with light!

Each artist chooses their own topic to paint with light allowing their individuality and styles to flourish and also to keep everything varied - from architectural drawings with strong perspective to cartoon style quirkiness - and interesting for audiences whilst s

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