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Projection mapping digital signage shines 'Northern Lights' across Canada's Parliament Hill

The "Northern Lights" will be visible on Canada's Parliament buildings again this summer thanks to a new projection mapping show, according to an announcement from projector provider Christie.

February 17, 2016

The "Northern Lights" will be visible on Canada's Parliament buildings again this summer thanks to a new projection mapping show, according to an announcement from projector provider Christie.

The show will be delivered by 17 Christie 3DLP projectors with content provided by id3. The half hour "Northern Lights" show celebrates Canadian history, achievements, the majesty of its vast landscape and the diversity of its people. The 2016 show runs from July 9 to Sept. 10.

According to the announcement, with this revised mapping, "Northern Lights" is twice as bright with twice the contrast compared with its predecessor "Mosaika" - which used nine Christie projectors. The new presentation immerses the audience into the Canadian experience with a 7.1 audio track with full narration, 44 moving lights and more than100 LED lights. The thematic journey through Canada's history unfolds on the 472-foot-long, six-story high Parliament Building and 302-foot-tall Peace Tower.

"'Northern Lights' is a marvelous accomplishment that showcases what it means to be Canadian in a way that is visually fascinating, instructive and engaging," said Kathryn Cress, vice president, global and corporate marketing, Christie. "We are honored the Department of Canadian Heritage uses Christie technology for this unforgettable tribute to Canada and its people."

The show is divided into five "books," each with its own theme. Jean-Marc Beauvalet, manager of technical services at the Department of Canadian Heritage, said the additional brightness, color uniformity and edge blending of Christie projectors is a huge asset — especially with each book using different visuals and blends, and evoking different moods.

"The brightness is so much stronger than before, especially in certain areas on the Parliament building that were mapped with only one projector on the Mosaika show," Beauvalet said. "However, for this show, we have three Christie projectors in the same area so we are tripling the brightness — it makes for a dramatic difference. You can see some of the most succinct images or the more distant visuals that are used, the capacity of the projector to reproduce the images and the colors that were chosen are big pluses."

Photos courtesy of the Department of Canadian Heritage.