NEW YORK – Christie once again partnered with Barneys New York to create a the holiday window displays on Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Christie’s digital lighting effects were mapped to a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture entitled “Winter Brilliance” and the choreographed projection of light creates the illusion of ice, snow, and moonlight, adding a fluid and kinetic quality to the sculpture.
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The lighting cycle starts with pure white before moving into a sequence of snow flurries, ending in fiery display of red and yellow light projected onto the 700 hand-blown glass “Icicle” elements. The scene is an interpretation of fire and ice, relating to the heating and cooling of the glass making process. The choreographed projection is accompanied by a modern adaptation of a score by Claude Debussy, one of Chihuly’s favorite composers.
Christie is also present in a second holiday window display at Barneys, “Arctic Chase,” sponsored by Lexus, that features penguins perched atop miniature cars navigating a winding winter road. An animated short film by Invisible Light Network entitled “Stay Cool” is shown on a video wall composed of 2X4 Christie FHD461-X flat panels. A third window display features slowly evolving ice castles, while a fourth display treats pedestrians to live ice carving demonstrations. Altogether, the windows produce an immersive visual narrative that engages pedestrians in a dramatic way, creates conversation, and leads them into the store. The holiday windows will be on view at Barneys New York flagship store through January 3, 2016.
“We have been incredibly fortunate to have a partner in Christie,” said Dennis Freedman, creative director, Barneys New York. “In addition to their high-performance technologies, Christie brought a lot value and expertise from the conceptual and creative perspective, and it has worked out to be an incredible collaboration. To watch how they work to create the content and the effects was extraordinary.”
“Projection mapping upon 700 pieces of hand-blown glass has never been done before and is very difficult to replicate. It’s an enormously creative and technical accomplishment, and is the kind of successful ‘art-meets-retail experience’ that we’ll see emerging all over the world in the next few years,” said Sean James, vice president, Christie Global Professional Services.
“It’s always a great pleasure to partner with Barneys. They are true visionaries in terms of designing retail experience for today’s savvy consumer, and they understand how technology and creativity can enrich the brand and the level of connection with their clients.”
Winter Brilliance ‘Wows’
Dale Chihuly is an American sculptor who has mastered the alluring, translucent, and transparent qualities of ice, water, glass and neon to create works of art that transform the viewer experience. Chihuly created “Winter Brilliance” which combines several star-like chandeliers and towers within a darkened window space, giving the impression of ice crystals frozen midair. It marks the first time Chihuly has used 3D digital mapping and choreographed lighting to illuminate an installation.
“For centuries people have been fascinated with glass, colored or crystal. It transmits light in a special way. It’s the most magical of all materials,” said Dale Chihuly. In partnership with Barneys, the Christie THREE SIXTY team developed digital 3D lighting experience concepts and content for Chihuly to review and approve. This was all new technology for Chihuly and his team and he was both surprised and happy with the results.
“Before now, we have never seen projection mapping on glass, but we knew working with Christie this was a challenge we could take on,” said Matthew Mazzucca, vice president of Windows and Exteriors at Barneys.
“We are always workings towards new and innovative ways to integrate technology into our installation and window designs and Christie share the same creative value and expectations, not only catering to the tech savvy but making it universally relatable to any viewer.”
