"As well as their installation flexibility, the F32s are capable of running at a very high resolution, WUXGA, which perfectly conveys the image quality, colour accuracy, sharpness and brilliance of the video sequences. The projectors also have a low cost of ownership which is a very attractive benefit for the V&A."
Bob Simpson, Founder of Electrosonic
A spectacular exhibition of more than 60 ballgowns from 1950 to the present day is on display at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum, the world’s greatest museum of art and design. “Ballgown: British Glamour since 1950” is the first exhibition in the newly renovated V&A Fashion Galleries and features beautiful ballgowns, red carpet evening gowns and catwalk showstoppers. Projection technologies are used to support the exhibit using the dome shaped architecture of the museum to bring to life the fantastic collection of designs from the museum’s various exhibits. Rollo Hollins, partner at production group FLETCHERWILSON, used the museum’s own collection of photographs taken by fashion photographer David Hughes, and designed some contemporary video sequences that are projected onto the four alcoves. The projected videos very nicely add the little extra to the already stunning exhibition.
Designing the exhibition’s AV systems was Sysco with on-site integration and implementation done by Electrosonic. Blending and geometry correction was performed by Dataton WATCHOUT. The flexibility of the high resolution F32 projection system is nicely demonstrated by Bob Simpson, Founder of Electrosonic; “In meeting the specific requirements of this installation, we turned to projectiondesign as they were the only manufacturer able to supply us with a stylish and compact projector solution that uses very wide-angle lenses and precision optics, together with a lot of fine-tuning which is very important for a project like this. As well as their installation flexibility, the F32s are capable of running at a very high resolution, WUXGA, which perfectly conveys the image quality, colour accuracy, sharpness and brilliance of the video sequences. The projectors also have a low cost of ownership which is a very attractive benefit for the V&A."
The four alcove walls forming curved projection surfaces are taller than they are wide, and therefore use two F32 projectors stacked and edge blended for each alcove. Very wide angle lenses are used to keep the projection distance short and the system non-obtrusive. Due to the projectors small sizes, the integration team was able to design non-obtrusive special housings for them, colour-matched to the décor and perforated to allow for ventilation.
