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The Artist Behind The Magic Lantern 3D Light Show
Nine months ago, the Board of Directors of
the newly established Redwood City Improvement Association met to brainstorm
a list of event ideas that it could produce
and fund. The primary objective was to
support local business owners by driving
significant foot traffic to our downtown
on an otherwise slow night of the week.
Given that our City already has the wildly
successful Thursday Night Movie Night
and Friday Night Concerts in Courthouse
Square, the Board felt it needed to think
outside the box to give people another reason to come downtown on a week night.
A bunch of Google searches revealed
something quite stunning called “video
mapping.” This discovery proved transformative. Despite very little knowledge
of what video mapping was or entailed,
the Board fell in love with the concept and
immediately set out to find partners who
could make it happen. The number one
priority was finding an artist who could
design the show.
Meet Bart Kresa. His company, BARTKRESA design, is the premiere projection
mapping studio, specializing in one-of-akind projection solutions throughout the
world. This is the work of a studio of 15
artists, led by Kresa, founder and Master
Projection Designer. As the company’s
publicity puts it, BARTKRESA design
works “by combining timeless artistry, industry-leading projectors, and adhering to
the highest technical standards.” He has
more than 20 years of industry experience
in developing engaging projection experiences. Kresa design teams from Japan and
Poland have won top awards from the
International Association of Amusement
Parks and Attractions.
Clients include Universal Studios, Disney, ABC, HBO, Fox Entertainment Group,
General Motors, Warner Bros. Studios,
34 · CLIMATE · September 2015
Above left: Bart Kresa
Right: The Umaid
Bhawan Palace in
Rajasthan, India before
and after
T-Mobile, The Grammy Awards, Oprah
Winfrey, Bulgari, and government bodies
such as CCTV China. The team travels
anywhere to develop epic, once-in-a-lifetime projection experiences, working with
event designers, theme park directors, live
acts and bands. No detail is too small, no
project too large; so whether the project
requires 6 or 60 projectors, the Kresa team
integrates all the design and technologies
necessary to provide an unparalleled experience. Its product: “brilliantly immersive
projection environments that give rise to
amazing large-scale augmented realities.”
“Augmented reality” well describes the
experience at Courthouse Square’s Magic
Lantern Light Show.
For weeks, crowds have been massing in Courthouse Square to witness its
amazing transformation via video projection into a dazzling display of animated shapes, images and a rather big snake.
As night overtakes the area, passersby
in increasingly large groups gather on
the pavement, on sidewalks and at the
curb on Broadway, until a throng stands
gazing across the open space to the columned façade of the San Mateo County
History Museum.
Suddenly, the building’s surface blazes into color and movement with a booming symphonic musical accompaniment
emanating seemingly from everywhere
and nowhere. All this and some pretty
cool music makes it more of a fifteen-minute immersive experience than a free public show. At length, the images take on
shapes, then eyes, then speech. Then the
building speaks, directly addressing Redwood City. Not many spectators blink.
Pretty much everyone has their phone out
creating their next Facebook post.
Many ask: “Who did the graphics?”
“How’d they make the columns of the
courthouse come alive?” “How can you
have 3D on a building without 3D glasses?” “Those eyes are pretty … impressive!”
The answer to these and most questions about the show is Bart Kresa of Santa
Monica and his staff of artists.
The Redwood City Improvement Association plans to present a new show every
couple of months. The current show will
wrap up on Sept. 1 and will launch a brand
new show on Sept. 29 that will run most
Tuesday nights thru November. The theme
of the new show will be Day of the Dead
and Halloween. It is sure to be as spectacular as the first show. C