The MGM in Macau had been reluctant to add lighting to it’s Grande Praca. A spacious glass ceiling atrium approximately 300’ long by 100’ wide. Constantly challenged with how to illuminate their seasonal decorative installations without subjecting the clean ceiling to a rock and roll truss installation. In conjunction with a large scale art installation for Art Basel Hong Kong 2015. The MGM enlisted Ira Levy of Levy Lighting | NYC to illuminate a custom site specific installation by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. Levy convinced the MGM that the solution was a museum style lighting installation. In his words, ‘It would be a museum style installation ON STEROIDS’ utilizing high powered LED light sources and automated light fixtures.
In order to achieve this task, the Levy Lighting | NYC design team proposed individually installed custom painted white theatrical light fixtures onto the curved architectural beams. A mix of RGBW zoom LED pars as well as automated LED wash and spots were installed to the ceiling. An additional layer of LED leko’s on automated arms were added for table illumination and wash light for food & beverage areas. The installation required no additional power and was able to use existing dmx data cabling from a moving light installation that was removed because it was unsightly to ownership. The entirely LED based installation dramatically cut down on maintenance costs associated with reaching the 80’ tall ceiling.
Installing theatrical entertainment fixtures directly onto the building architecture truly defined and emphasized the ‘architainment’ concept.
The Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos was commissioned for a site specific large scale installation called ‘The Valkyrie’, constructed of 4,000 metres of boldly coloured and patterned fabric, the 35 metre long, 20 metre high octopuslike form encompasses the aquarium at the centre of the Grande Praça. Lighting played an integral part to bringing the atrium and the Valkyrie to life. ‘While fooling around with the programming, we wrote a sequence where the lights on the octopus faded up and down and the sculpture actually appeared as if it was breathing, it was spectacular…’ says Ira Levy of Levy Lighting | NYC.
The beauty of the Valkyrie was supported further by the ceiling’s ambient wash which was programmed to slowly fade with the breathing sequence projected onto the Valkyrie.
The unveiling of the installation became a major ‘happening’ for the MGM as it was designed to correspond with the opening of Art Basel Hong Kong. In order to turn the installation into more of a feature, MGM management asked that Levy create a choreographed light and sound show feature that was designed to play once per hour. Working with Zero Times Everything, a New York based cinematic musical group, Levy created a rocked out electronic version of Wagner’s Rise of the Valkyrie 2015 edition. The lighting was synchronized to highlight important musical elements as well as the beauty of the sculpture itself.
Equipment List
- 24 Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 LED units custom painted white (12 wash/12 spot)
- 98 Generico RGBW LED zoom units 1250 degree
- 12 Generico Warm White LED Leko
- 12 Apollo Right Arm automated moving yoke
- 1 MA Lighting full size grandMA console for programming
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA playback system
- 48 Iluminarc ILUMIPANEL 180 IP