Obscura Digital
“Windows of the World” at the MGM Cotai Spectacle atrium is Obscura’s largest and most ambitious project to date. We created over 26TB of media that will play 24/7 on a massive 25-screen LED array spanning the atrium’s 900-meter perimeter — the world’s largest area of permanent LED screens. The result is an immersive artistic environment that redefines the idea of public art as a shared virtual reality experience.
The Spectacle both inspires and defines the new age of China, evoking a sense of the future through creative modern reinterpretations of Chinese tradition. Artworks connect with local culture and expand in widening spheres, furthering MGM’s mission of bringing the world to China and China to the world. Dedicated to discovery, understanding, and bringing the world together, the project’s themes of nature, art, music, language, and culture inspire guests to see the world in a different way.
Obscura’s legacy of crafting brilliant visual illusions finds new expression in the Spectacle media program. Using a combination of special techniques, filming approaches, and processing treatments, we blur the boundaries between the real world and the virtual world. Art pieces defy the imagination and suspend disbelief, playing on ideas of form, movement, and time, all brought to life through unprecedented feats of new technology.
My Contribution
Over the course of this project I had the opportunity to contribute both technically and artistically. Early in the process I worked on the team steering the artistic direction of our work. As we moved into production I worked on a small team of developers to not only actualize our artistic vision, but also to resolve the countless technical hurdles that come with a canvas of impossible immersion and size.
Matthew Ragan 