Champions!, an incredible multimedia experience combining a live show, film, and an immersive environment, was created for the hundredth anniversary of the International Olympic Committee’s presence in Lausanne, Switzerland. On November 20 and 21, 2015, 8,000 spectators gathered at Place de la Riponne for an outdoor show inspired by the DNA of Olympic champions and other exceptional people in all fields who believe in excellence and give their all to fulfill their dreams and constantly push their limits.
Designed and produced by Olivier Dufour (Dufour, Maison de creation) Champions! is a stunning fresco of art and sport that allows the audience to feel what it’s like to be an Olympic athlete or a virtuoso artist during a performance. The show’s custom scenography, incorporated into the Palais de Rumine, consists of a building projection using 50 video projectors synchronized to deliver 6,000+ pixel images, surround sound technology with over 70 speakers, two stages, an ice rink, original music by Frédéric Bégin (Apollo Studio), pyrotechnic effects, and 400 artists and athletes (including a number of Olympians) on stage.
The show is directed by Ghislain Turcotte (Matièrs) and stars Swiss Olympic figure skating medalist Stéphane Lambiel, the show’s choreographer. Champions! combines elite-level sports performance with a unique technique of integrating human activity into multimedia content. It is a bold mix of original film, motion design, and archival images presenting not only the athletes’ DNA but also their humanity.
Thanks to special access to the IOC database, containing 33,000 hours of video content, Champions! uses images never before seen in public, in a unique format blending naturally with the Palais’s façade and its architectural complexities. The real challenge and greatest accomplishment of this project was choosing images and effects to fit the huge, nonstandard, 135 m long building, and projecting them onto its entire surface. Braving bad weather, which damaged some of the equipment and gave everyone a hard time, the Olympic-like Champions! team was able to weave a story of dreams, determination, and resilience celebrating those who make excellence possible, the sports fans whose enthusiasm spurs their idols to greater heights.
CHAMPIONS! 100è du CIO à Lausanne /IOC 100th anniversary in Lausanne, by Olivier Dufour from DUFOUR, Maison de création on Vimeo.
Featuring light designer Louis-Xavier Gagnon Lebrun (Atomic3) and media server programmer Olivier Gagnon (20k Inc.), who also did the video system design, Champions! offered a spectacular tribute to the IOC.
Design Team
- Original concept, creative director : Olivier Dufour, Dufour Maison de création
- Associated designers: Felix Dagenais, Atomic3 and Ghislain Turcotte, Matièrs
- Post-Production: Studio Element
- Light Designer: Louix-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun, Atomic3
- Video programming: Olivier Gagnon, 20k Inc.
- Original Score: Frédéric Bégin, Apollo Studio
- Pyrotechnics Designer: Benoit Berthelet, GFA
- Production: Dufour, Maison de création
- Created and produced by Dufour, Maison de création
Equipment List
- 24 Vari-Lite VL3500W
- 24 Vari-Lite VL4000S
- 40 Martin Quantum Wash
- 48 Clay-Paky Mythos
- 68 Clay-Paky Sharpy
- 8 Clay-Paky B-EYE K20
- 24 Studio Due CityColor LED
- 96 Ayrton ARCALINE 2 LED
- 100 Par LED Tourkolor Starway
- 24 Martin ATOMIC 3000
- 12 MDG MAX 3000
- 2 Martin Glaciator Xstream
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA2 FULL
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA2 LIGHT
- 50 Projector 20000 Lumens Panasonic PT-DZ21K1
- 2 Media Manager Coolux Pandora Box Manager Pro
- 5 Coolux Quad Server Pro with SSD drives
- 80 L-ACOUSTICS K2
- 60 L-ACOUSTICS K1SB
- 8 L-ACOUSTICS SB18
- 32 L-ACOUSTICS SB28