GLASGOW, U.K. — Glasgow City Chambers became a 75-meter-by-25-meter projection surface for Burns Illuminated, a tribute to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns. E/T/C London supplied projection equipment and crew for the event, which was staged by Glasgow City Council. Ross Ashton, whose work was already known to the Council, produced the artwork.
Burns Illuminated’s project manager, John Toffolo, commissioned Ashton to create a projection show for the George Square site, outlining the story and cultural legacy of Burns’ short life.
The show included hundreds of images sourced from the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and custom PIGI artwork created by Ashton. Researchers Ralph Richard McLean and David Freckleton developed the script and tracked down the images.
The 15-minute looped show was accompanied by audio compiled by Karen Monid, with narration by Hannah Donaldson.
The show marked the first time that the City Chambers has served as a canvas for a projection of this scale. The war memorial directly in front of the City Chambers posed a technical challenge, as did other statues and objects in the vicinity.
The crew used four PIGI 6kW projectors with double rotating scrollers, with two positioned close to the building at ground level and two further back and higher up. The projectors were all housed in custom weatherised hides. This layout enabled the central section of the building — obscured by the war memorial — to be lit by crossing over the beams of the closer projectors.
The PIGIs were loaded with approximately 20 meters of images. which were all keystone corrected. Karen Monid operated E/T/C’s OnlyCue control system to program and run the show.
“This was another amazing project to work on, and it produced some great teamwork by all involved from the conception to the physical delivery,” Ashton said. “The building features lots of fine structural details which had to be considered when producing the artwork and visualising how it would appear. We also wanted to ensure that Burns was appropriately represented, with exactly the right mix of historical information and contemporary presentation.”
“It was very important that Glasgow recognized the 250th anniversary of one of Scotland’s greatest sons,” said Allan Stewart, deputy lord provost, who led the project on behalf of the city of Glasgow. “Two of Glasgow’s greatest assets — the friendliness of its people and an international outlook — were characteristics shared by Burns and famously expressed in the words of, ‘A Man’s A Man For A’ That.’ Bearing this in mind, it was appropriate that Glasgow hosted this unique event.”
Ashton and Monid were joined on site by projection technician Michael Barry. City Building fabricated the projector hides and supplied the generated power, and Sound Acoustics supplied the audio system.
After word spread about the projections, up to 10,000 people packed into George Square for the illuminated event, which included additional entertainment and fireworks.
For more information, please visit www.projecting.co.uk.
