For over a decade, the autumn season in the historic city of Prague has played host to Signal Festival – a cultural gathering that sees digital artists present their artwork across various installations throughout the city. Having garnered quite the following, the annual event has welcomed over five million visitors to the city over the past 11 years. Key to the success of the festival is supporting the next generation of local artists with 70 citywide installations. Speaking to TPi on-site, Christie shared how its line of high-brightness projectors are responsible for showcasing the visual art on to various architectural canvases throughout Prague.
Christie Senior Technical Support Engineer, Pal Roppa and Global Enterprise Marketing Manager, Polly Bradley-Brock doubled as TPi’s tour guides for the day. “Christie has been the Technology Partner of Signal since 2023, so we were excited to be back again for another year,” began Bradley-Brock.
For the 2024 rendition, Christie provided several of its top of the range RGB pure laser projectors including Griffyn 4K35-RGB and the M 4K25 RGB models. “The festival organisers sit down with the Christie team to let them know what building the festival has permission to project on to, outlining what projectors they require,” said Roppa, retracing the origins of the project. “There is a lot of back and forth amid this process, weighing up the appropriate lenses required in relation to the projection distances. The consideration of the surface is also a key consideration.”
As a Technical Partner, Christie adopted a hands-on approach, providing not only the equipment but an on-site team during the build and show days to support the operation. “We aren’t just a manufacturer that provides equipment and then asks for it back at the end of the project,” noted Roppa.
Case and point, Christie opened its doors to all the participating artists at Signal Festival who wanted to know more about the products’ capabilities in a unique knowledge exchange, designed to benefit the overall festival experience. “It was great to show artists the level of colours that can be achieved by our RGB projector models,” added Roppa.
Christie products were featured across ten different spots in the city. One of the grandest was an art piece created by Filip Hodas, projected on the walls of the Archbishop’s Palace. Titled Eternal Recurrence, the visual journey depicted the origin and evolution of life – starting with a chaotic molecular stage, evolving into complex organic structures, showcasing natural growth patterns.
For this project, projectors were installed in the opposite building – the Prague Castle Riding School – harnessing the creative capabilities of a Christie Griffyn 4K35-RGB projector with TruLife+ electronics and the company’s proprietary RGB pure laser illumination. “Filip was ‘wowed’ by the colours he was able to achieve with our projectors,” remarked Bradley-Brock.
Roppa highlighted the evolution of projector technology in recent years, making these types of projects far more achievable. “In years past to produce this type of projection you would need to have racks, and a chiller, connected to a projector head.”
Nowadays, Christie boasts that functionality onboard within the casing of a singular projector. “We just require three people to pick up our single 50,000-lumen projectors instead of an army of personnel and resources,” Roppa stated, proudly.
The smaller form factor of Christie projectors, making installation increasingly easier, has certainly opened more opportunities for artists experimenting with or specialising in the evolving projection mapping space, according to Roppa.
Furthermore, Roppa cited the development of dedicated mapping ‘forums’ conversing online and meeting up in-person, made up of enthusiasts and the workforces involved in staging these spectacles as an example of the growing community.
Following the success of Signal Festival 2024, the Christie contingent has set their sights on 2025. “Signal Festival grows more impressive each year, and as the demand for this style of event rises – the more artists will strive to get involved,” added Bradley-Brock.
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Filip Hodas’ Eternal Recurrence at Signal Festival
