November 2016 marked the 1st birthday of the National Gallery Singapore Southeast Asian Art Museum. To celebrate the anniversary of Singapore’s largest arts venue, something special was planned in collaboration with Spinifex Group and local integrator, and Barco partner, Creative Technology to take place during the Light to Night Festival 2016. Topping off the festivities was a dynamic projection mapping onto the historical façade of the Gallery, wowing spectators with striking visual effects.

A façade perfect for a light show

The new National Gallery Singapore is home to the biggest collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian art in the world, and housed in an historic building dating to 1929 – formerly the City Hall and Supreme Court. Renovation of the classically-inspired edifice cost roughly USD 375 million. Such a grand façade was the inspiring canvas for a projection mapping that was designed in portrait configuration for extremely vivid colors and effects.

Creative Technology chose Barco 30k projectors for this application, as the administration has relied on Barco projection technology for other display projects for many years. Local Barco partner Creative Technology employed their audiovisual expertise, 16 Barco HDF W30 Flex’s projectors and 10 Barco HDX-W20 FLEX projectors to light up the tropical night from 25 November to 3 December, 2016. Specifically designed for events, HDF W30 Flex’s laser phosphor projectors come equipped to deliver the extremely bright, perfectly-scaled in image size 114M x 21M , pixel space 9152 x 1920 = 17.57 million pixels and striking images needed for this large mapping.

Rigorous standards
 
The projection mapping was a huge success for the duration of the Light to Night festivities, which also included cultural, artistic and culinary features. Visitor numbers to the National Gallery Singapore were higher than usual during that period, and crowds flocked to the building – located right in the center of the downtown area – every weeknight to enjoy the spectacular moment. Visitors and citizens weren’t the only ones interested, as many businesses, real estate owners and event agencies in Singapore were also attracted to our projection systems.