Christie's technology turned the opening ceremony of the Swimming World Cup 2013 in a great audiovisual show

The opening ceremony of the XV World Swimming Championships, which took place last summer in Barcelona, It had a spectacular mapping carried out by the Eikonos company and the RPM Events agency that used Christie technology for its staging..

The agency RPM Events, by the hand of Eikonos, They made a spectacular mapping for the opening ceremony of the XV World Swimming Championships that took place last summer in Barcelona. An audiovisual show that was projected on the stands of the Palau Sant Jordi using six projectors Christie Roadster HD20K-J and a Christie Spyder X20 video processor.

under the name water dreams, the ceremony, made by the agency RPM Events, was born from a creative proposal by Hansel Cereza, one of the founders of the Fura dels Baus, and was a reflection on the preservation of the planet's water through the dream of a child. With live music from the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Catalonia (OBC), directed by Arthur Post, the Palau Sant Jordi was transformed into different settings, from a beach to the sea surface and in a particular underwater world.

The ceremony, it was a light show, color, sound and, above all, water, It lasted just over an hour and more than 600 personas, among acrobats, volunteers and 150 kids from city clubs.

One of the most outstanding elements of RPM Events' creative proposal was a screen located in the stands of the Palau. “To give life to this screen, Mapping technology was used due to the great possibilities to project a quality image on an unconventional surface.”, explains Yolanda Cobb, Account Director of RPM Events and Director of the Barcelona Ceremonies Project 2013.

The creative of Tigrelab, multimedia design and communication studio based in Barcelona, developed a wall with a life of its own that evolved throughout the show. “For RPM Events it was one of the biggest challenges, since the projection surface was a public stand that underwent many modifications, altering the entire pre-production and installation process of the projectors”, comments Cobb. "On the other hand, the proposal had to introduce new technologies, and in this case our biggest bet was on a very special mapping that turned a simple audience stand into a wall with life throughout the entire show.”.

The result was a mapping that offered a metaphor of images projected on the stands that accompanied and supported the plot thread of the story and made it come to life..

The total projection surface was 47 meters and aspect ratio 16:9. The six Christie HD20k-J projectors (with 3-chip DLP technology, 18.000 ANSI lumens and HD resolution 1920 x 1080) They showed videos and textures on the stands and were hanging in the catwalk at 32 meters high. The teams worked in dual pairs and at a distance of 35 meters of the projection surface.

Besides, all Christie devices were equipped with Twist modules, which allowed the Eikonos technical team to use the warping function, creating a seamless image. The optics used were 1.45 and the total resolution of the projection was 3268 x 1080.

The content of this mapping was controlled and managed with the multi-image software Dataton Watchout via PC. The Christie X20 video processor also played a key role, used as a switching matrix and routing of external signals.