Located on the second level of Beijing’s sprawling Daxing International Airport terminal building – nicknamed “the Starfish” due to its unique star-shaped design – the Journey of Light and Shadow ‘digital experience pavilion’ provides visitors with an immersive and interactive space to appreciate and experience art through the use of cutting-edge projection, audio, and interactive technologies.
Works of art
Fifteen Christie DWU850-GS 1DLP laser projectors – supplied, installed and commissioned by Christie’s long-standing partner Wincomn Technology – feature works by van Gogh and Monet. Themed The Four Seasons by Masters of Art, visitors enjoy digital projections of eight art masterpieces on the walls and floor of the pavilion covering an area of 130 square metres. The works comprise Vincent van Gogh’s Almond Blossoms, Green Wheat Field with Cypress, Starry Night, Sunflowers, The Harvest, and Wild Roses, as well as Oscar-Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and Floes at Bennecourt.
“The Journey of Light and Shadow digital experience pavilion is an innovative cultural space that enable visitors to relax and admire world famous art pieces in an unprecedented manner – through highly immersive projections that make them feel as if they’re part of the paintings,” says Tony Chen, general manager, Wincomn Technology.
“We are very excited to be involved in this significant project, particularly with the projection design, and have pulled out all the stops to create an awe-inspiring, contemporary digital art gallery using the tried-and-tested Christie GS Series 1DLP laser projectors, which we are very familiar with.”
Front projection
Wincomn adopted front projection using ultra short throw lens to display visuals in landscape format on all surfaces. This enabled all images presented on the walls of the preface hall and main gallery to be seamlessly integrated and completely filled from top to bottom. An overhead structure was also erected for the projectors to be suitably installed as it was architecturally difficult to mount them on the ceiling. In this way, usable space can be fully utilised and the projections
will be free from any interference by visitors.
Elaborating on why the Christie DWU850-GS was chosen, Chen explains: “We have used Christie’s GS Series for a number of cultural, entertainment and night tourism projects across different provinces. In particular, this 8,400 ISO lumens projector is known for its small footprint, low weight, quiet operation and advanced colour reproduction with Christie BoldColor Technology, which makes it ideal for deployment in high-usage environments like this. Coupled with a long-lasting laser light source and 24/7 operation durability, the DWU850-GS can help the client save on maintenance and manpower costs in the long run. This will, in turn, improve operational efficiency of the digital experience pavilion.”
April Qin, sales director for China, Enterprise, Christie, adds: “We’re delighted that this ingenious installation by Wincomn at Daxing International Airport’s new digital experience pavilion is a hit with visitors and [it] demonstrates the unlimited installation possibilities offered by our 1DLP laser projection solutions.”
