Future Cities to illuminate Wellington streets

Future Cities to illuminate Wellington streets, powered by Sony

Expect world-class displays in the Wellington edition of this interactive art exhibition.

Wellington, June 2019 - World-renowned Kiwi artist Cody Ellingham is bringing his unique and hugely popular high-tech visual art exhibition dubbed Future Cities powered by Sony to Wellington this month, giving locals a taste of their future.

Future Cities is a new kind of shared experience that uses light and sound projections to create a digitised fantasy of Wellington, held as part of the Lōemis Festival.

Using a process called ‘photogrammetry’ to scan city streets and buildings, Future Cities builds new 3D worlds that are a unique mix of being recognisable to residents while putting a new lens on the landscape.

Future Cities is designed and led by the powerful digital visuals of the Derive Team: Cody Ellingham (NZ / Japan) with Ruben Fro (Italy), and accompanied by a moving soundscape of “epic proportions”
created by SJF (UK). Having done two hugely successful interactive installations already in Tokyo and Taipei, all three artists are excited to bring the increasingly popular project to New Zealand.

Mr. Ellingham studied at Victoria University of Wellington and is excited to return after six years for this special event, working tirelessly for months to make it special for Wellingtonians.

“The idea is to explore dreams of the future by scanning the city of today,” Mr. Ellingham said.

“We started talking about possibilities with this new technology, as we did not want to just capture raw reality, but to explore the dreams and memories of a place. It is as if you are swimming through a dream of a place deep underwater. Some of these buildings [in the lightshow] are already gone and only exist in memories now.”

The highlight of Future Cities is the Hall of Memories show held at the National War Memorial of New Zealand, and is expected to be the “most emotional” and distinctive show on the week-long Future Cities calendar. It will take spectators on a conceptual journey from forgotten forests to impossible cityscapes, combining recognisable memories of the past with the future in an incredibly powerful and prestigious location.

However, Future Cities' main attraction is the popup light display in a shipping container in Te Aro Park from June 14 - 22, which Mr. Ellingham encourages people to explore on their way past to escape for a moment. The container allows people to experience the joy and uniqueness of a light display during the middle of the day, and will run from 10AM to 10PM daily.

Sony New Zealand is proud to have partnered with a Kiwi artist who is achieving global success, and has provided the technology to make this experience happen.

“We are delighted to support Future Cities in Wellington, and love that Cody has chosen to shoot and project his work using a wide range of Sony products,” comments Sam Duncan, General Manager, Sony New Zealand.

“We’ve heard great reviews of the other versions of Future Cities and can’t wait to see the Wellington edition later this month. We admire his work and believe the Sony products will help take the experience to the next level.”

Cody shoots dreamscapes on a Sony A7 full-frame mirrorless camera, while the event’s powerful visuals are projected by Sony laser projectors. Completing the whole experience and creating the immersive soundscape are Sony portable speakers.

The local edition of the unique Future Cities display will transform Wellington into an art spectacle each night from June 14-22, with shows projected onto existing buildings around the city, creating an interactive and undeniably unique visual feast.

Future Cities is proudly powered by Sony New Zealand, in association with Lōemis Festival and their supporters Wellington City Council.

#FutureCities #SonyNZ #Loemis

Event schedule:
Hall of Memories, National War Memorial, Wellington – June 16, 7:30PM - 8:30PM
Tickets are available online from https://www.loemis.nz/tickets/future-cities

Future Cities Interaction Space/Pop Up Show, Te Aro Park – June 14 - 22, 10AM - 10PM

Future Cities Artists:
• Cody Ellingham - New Zealand: https://www.instagram.com/cbje_tokyo/
• Ruben Fro – Italy: https://instagram.com/rubenfro/
• SJF – United Kingdom.: https://instagram.com/sjf.tokyo/

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