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Highlights
Building a Humanistic Theatre with High-End Technology
“Window of the City” brings together a miniature United Nations of outstanding arts professionals from Asia, Europe and America, using the latest high-end technologies, including optical fiber fabric, cutting-edge multimedia and a super-sized robotic stage, simply in service of telling a delicate, pure and beautiful story.
In creating and performing the show, combining the energy of people with the power of machines also recreates the course of urban evolution, interpreting the deeper meaning of “people first” within “Better City, Better Life.”
Optical Fiber Fabric, Highlighting the Angel’s Modern Image
To create a dreamlike Kingdom of Angels, “Window of the City” chose a high-tech material, optical fiber fabric, for the angels’ costumes, so that the angels glow with romantic, beautiful light as they circle in the deep, distant night sky. Optical fiber fabric combines traditional textiles with advanced photonics; different manufacturing techniques can produce effects ranging from a soft halo to a twinkling field of stars. This innovative product was jointly developed by Taiwan’s GDH Co., Ltd. and the Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI). It is the first of its kind in Asia, and the world’s first optical fiber fabric capable of mass production.
Sparks from the Soul
In the story of “Window of the City,” the little angel sets out on his journey to the human world carrying a magic feather from his angel mother. The feather holds the magic of passing on love, and it is the key that sparks the bond between the little angel and the girl. To let the audience feel these sparks more directly, an “interactive feather” installation was designed for the seating area. Made from optical fiber material and LEDs, and controlled by interactive technology developed by the Creativity Lab of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the feathers change brightness and color as the story unfolds, strengthening the interaction and resonance between audience and performance.
A Super-Sized, Multi-Layered, Rotating Cube Stage
“Window of the City” features a super-sized, multi-layered, three-dimensional rotating cube stage unlike any other in the world. On a circular rotating stage 20 meters in diameter stands a dynamic set of seven cube-like columns that can rotate 360 degrees, named the “Magic Cube.” The seven steel structures, each about 9 meters high and 3 meters deep, are covered with LED screens that the performers can walk on. The five central columns can rise and fall together and flip individually, and they conceal “drawers” that slide out independently, their surfaces also covered with LED screens. With images playing across many surfaces at once, the shifting combinations of picture and space resemble a Rubik’s Cube in motion.
Avant-Garde Multimedia Images
To give the images multiple layers, a circular projection scrim 12 meters high and about 32 meters wide, able to rise, fall and rotate 360°, is installed in front of the cube stage, with six projectors casting 3D images onto it at once to create continuous scenes. As the cube stage turns forward and backward, moves up, down and sideways and rotates with each change of scene, the images on its LED screens must change smoothly along with it. Add the second layer of images on the scrim, and the performers carrying the story between the two layers, and every stage movement calls for its own specially designed images. The work is vast and complex: the image design itself is extremely demanding, and the mechanical design and operating programs behind the flawless images must be equally precise and rigorous.
An Eight-Channel Surround Sound System
Because the audience seating radiates out from the circular rotating cube stage, viewers in different sections see the images at different moments as they travel across the curved scrim. To make the sound follow the flow of the images naturally and accurately, a four-channel system was installed on each side of the seating, eight channels in total, creating a smooth and rich surround sound effect.
An Elaborate Aerial Rigging System
Aerial rigging is the system that suspends and flies performers. For “Window of the City,” the aim was for the aerial work to blend naturally into the rhythm of the story, rather than to be a display of stunts. Working from the pavilion’s interior structure and visual space, the rigging designer had to calculate precisely how 36 performers could fly at once on aerial tracks only a little over 20 meters wide, and then write an elaborate program linking the speed of the rigging tightly to the images and the rhythm of the music.
