A large complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures was featured in The Banyan Tree installation at Bangalore, India’s Sixth Sense Festival produced by Swordfish Events & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The array of Claypaky products included Tambora Flashes and Battens, Panify 2 motorized lighting platforms, B-EYE K15s, Valero Waves and Sharpy X Frames.
The venue for the multi-day festival was a century-old glass factory, a unique backdrop for launching India’s first and largest multidisciplinary immersive experience. The Banyan Tree, a site-specific installation by Production DesignerStephen Bontly, presented a story of mutual relationships and symbiosis between elements. It was formed from the elements that we have adopted into our identity: windows, mirrors, lights, smoke and lasers. The stylized high-tech tree fused light, sound and technology inviting visitors to step inside and watch the environment come alive around them.
Known as The King of Trees and an important symbol in Indian culture, The Banyan Tree “was an interactive art piece that became a stage backdrop during live events surrounding the exhibition,” Bontly explains.
Lasers around the tree’s perimeter connected to the core made of mirrors, prisms and glass. Using lidars people interacted with the space: mirror and light panels moved, LED screens activated, lasers bounced and smoke created atmosphere.
“I used lidar sensors to track the audience; they were placed around the room to trigger sounds and voice messages. The audio then communicated to software I built to trigger lighting effects throughout the tree,” Bontly says. “The piece was actually controlled by the visitors, and no one moment was the same during the interactive show. In between, a timecoded story highlighted all the features on the tree just to make sure everyone got to see its full potential. I couldn’t let it stop there, The Banyan Tree was also able to switch into live mode giving the control to my team and I during the live performances.”
He chose a wide array of Claypaky fixtures for their looks and functions. Eighteen Tambora Flashes featured in the core of the tree filling the need for larger bulb, short bar fixtures. “Even running them at 5 percent they delivered quality color,” Bontly points out. Eight Tambora Battens encircled the tree. “I was more interested in getting the tight beams from the longer bars than their uniform tilt,” he notes.
Panify 2 motorized lighting platforms held clusters of prisms into which Bontly shot lasers. “The tree was actually two parts: a flown element that was the tree canopy and top of the trunk plus a ground-supported trunk,” he explains. “This allowed me to stack the Panifys vertically, facing one another” using a custom steel plate Bontly designed. Four Panifys created the tree canopy and two were positioned in the trunk. The second trunk fixture had encircling glass panels. “With total control of the direction of the prisms, we had a lot of fun just spinning them around and redirecting beams of light,” he recalls.
Five B-EYE K15s were aligned in the trunk, two facing up and three down from the canopy. “With the washes’ zoom set to 0%, they lit up the center quite well and did wonders for chase effects,” says Bontly. “The two closest to the center illuminated the Panify elements so well – they were honestly the two most important lights of the piece. These core lights really illuminated the structure of the piece, which was important for the overall concept.”
Four more K15s were installed on the ground for concerts. “During the shows, we really got into the pixel engine on the K15s, giving us another level of detail not easily obtained with simpler fixtures,” he adds. Six Valero Waves were also ground mounted for live performances.
The 36 X Frames were symbolic as much as they were an atomspheric choice. As it related to the Banyan Tree concept it symbolized the roots that drop down from the branches. In the interactive output, when people would approach the area, they would illuminate the floor beneath. As far as the look, i always love the uniform grid arrays over a large space. It really makes the space super dynamic and fun, running chases across a warehouse will never get old, especially from the dance floor.
.Bontly notes that the Tambora product line color matched quite easily, while the K15s “fell in line with the Tamboras with almost zero difference. We landed on a good, synchronized look.”
With the Panifys acting as an accent feature “for the big moments – all the lights out, fog on, lasers at the core, Panifys spinning – it was truly something to see.”
Bontly relied on the Mumbai production company Light N Light and Sahil Phodkar for support, but he reports that “the Claypaky fixtures worked flawlessly.” He credits Swordfish and Bharath Muniram, his Production Manager, for “holding the project together and funding the dream. I could not have done it without these teams. We built [the installation] for three weeks, and they kept it maintained for another ten days.”
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