CAMBRIDGE, U.K. — The first scholars at the University of Cambridge, who had split off from another group of scholars forming the University of Oxford in 1209, didn’t have the opportunity to learn about things like Christopher Columbus. It would be another 283 years before the New World explorer sailed the ocean blue.
But if Cambridge vies with arch-rival Oxford for bragging rights as the oldest school in the English-speaking world, the projected light show commissioned by Cambridge 800 to mark 800 years of education at Cambridge was anything but old school.
Large-format projection specialist E/T/C London gave a new look to Cambridge’s Senate House and Old School buildings with 50-meter-wide video projections. Creating a visual narrative, projection artist Ross Ashton incorporated some of the many ideas, concepts and inventions that have emanated from the university over the centuries.
“It was a hugely exciting work with which to be involved,” Ashton said. “The historical and ground-breaking moments that have flowed from Cambridge have changed the world. I wanted to give spectators a glimpse into the depth of this incredible body of work and show that the same innovative genius will continue to shape our world in the future.”
The nine-minute looped show was projected onto the two adjacent buildings, which are positioned at a right angle to each other. The supplied gear included four Christie S+20K projectors hidden in custom-made housing structures designed by E/T/C London’s Paul Highfield. These structures sat directly across the large lawn in front of both buildings.
The images, soft-edged together, included animations of two of the University’s most famous alumni, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, which were created for the show by illustrator Quentin Blake, a graduate of Cambridge’s Downing College.
The show’s artwork, produced by Paul Chatfield and Ross Ashton, consisted of multiple layered still art images, which were then animated using E/T/C’s OnlyView control platform. Four OnlyView servers, one per projector, were loaded with the content and programmed by Richard Porter using the system’s practical multi-timeline function.
The control position was located within the Senate House for weather protection, so Porter set up a second system outdoors to line up the projectors during rigging and rehearsals, keeping the two systems carefully synched. The projectors could also be tweaked from the indoor control position via a WIFI link into the OnlyView producer computer.
During the load-in, Michael Barry joined the team and fitted all 31 arched windows in the fascias of both buildings with tailored Corex white-outs. Glen Jenkins was also onboard to assist Porter in setting up the control.
The projections kicked off immediately after Quentin Blake and BBC Look East presenter Susie Fowler-Watt officially launched the celebrations. The show ran from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for three nights and drew a sizable crowd to the center of Cambridge.
For more information, please visit www.etclondonparis.com.
