From music for the eyes to symphonies for the senses
by Gene Jeffers
Born of early VJ gigs where Moment Factory’s founders offered “music for the eyes” and realized Cirque du Soleil projects, Montreal-headquartered Moment Factory has since taken on a wide range of complex, large-scale projects set in natural environments, iconic architectural, cultural and sacred sites, museums and public spaces. The team’s imagination and technology-stretching skills have graced everything from Nine Inch Nails’ Lights in the Sky Tour to Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime show, from the Ode à la Vie multimedia show projected on the exterior façade of the Sagrada Familia to the interior mind-bending experience of AURA at the Notre-Dame Basilica.
Their motto proclaims, “We do it in public,” and that is entirely the point. “People are more and more isolated, and technology has, unfortunately, accelerated that isolation. Our inspiration is the campfire, a place where people once gathered to share stories and build connections,” says Catherine Turp, Executive Director of Creation and Innovation at Moment Factory. She oversees the firm’s creative vision and innovative approaches, working closely with the founders and the creative team. “Our mission is to replicate the feeling of the campfire by creating magic, wonder and community. We spark human connections through unforgettable moments that bring people together.”
Moment Factory projects entice people to venture beyond the confines of their homes, to step away from their personal devices and home theaters into captivating experiences that can only happen in public spaces and in the real world. “How can we inspire people? How can we create moments of amazement? What does it take for people to want to gather physically in one place and join others?” Turp asks. “What does it take to stand out among the other attractions and distractions that surround us? We strive to find ways to offer more.”
It takes a team to build a campfire
Moment Factory’s success is due to its nature as a collaborative enterprise, both within the team itself and with the clients and partners of each project. The main objective is always to emotionally engage people within a given space and time. “We are approached with many opportunities and ideas. Our team then works with clients to understand their objectives and develop environments that will pull people in, engage them in an emotional story and in the environment,” Turp says. Whether building community awareness and pride, glamorizing travel hubs or honoring sacred spaces, collaboration remains key to every project the firm undertakes.
Lumina Night Walks
Nine years ago, a call from the operators of the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook in Quebec provided a chance to offer more for the client and their guests. An invitation to light an iconic suspension bridge to attract after-dark visitors soon morphed into Foresta Lumina, a one-hour nighttime ticketed experience integrated within the gorge and its forest. “It was a simple request,” explains Turp. “After visiting the beautiful site, we saw an opportunity to go beyond the original mandate by bringing the local stories, legends and geography itself to life. Creating this enchanted night walk allows visitors to be fully immersed in the surrounding forest and landscape of Coaticook.” Guests explore Foresta Lumina’s charms at their own pace. The two-kilometer-long trail invites them to escape for a few magical moments within a forest scenography enriched with video- mapping, lighting effects and an original soundtrack.
Building on their success at Coaticook Gorge, the Moment Factory team, in collaboration with a wide range of partners, have created more than 18 additional site-specific Lumina Night Walk experiences in Asia, Europe and North America. Each Lumina Night Walk has its own personality, reshaping its outdoor venue with light, sound and local storytelling. “With each project, Lumina experience or otherwise, we explore possibilities, push familiar products to their limits and, when needed, hijack technologies from other industries. We test and retest, always looking for ways to immerse guests more deeply in the emotion of the story,” Turp says. “With all of our projects, the technology remains invisible, seamlessly integrated within the site, so as to never distract the audience.”
The AURA Project
Known for lavish staging and compelling exterior projection and sound works on heritage and sacred structures, Moment Factory’s AURA Projects generate multi-sensory experiences within structures, lavishing light, an original musical composition featuring choir and orchestra, projection mapping and story-telling within iconic architectural facilities.
The first AURA experience was created when the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre-Dame of Montreal asked Moment Factory to create a sound, light and video show that would invite visitors to discover the Notre-Dame Basilica in old Montreal in a new way. “The challenge was to create a show that would captivate, touch, and inspire every visitor,” says Turp. The interior canvas offered whole new color, texture and scale challenges that required pushing precise pixel-by-pixel video-mapping to the extreme. “The experience had to highlight the Basilica’s artworks and architecture, all while respecting the religious heritage and regular activity of the church.”
Now beginning its sixth year as a ticketed experience, AURA at the Notre-Dame Basilica begins with a self-led tour of multimedia installations showcasing the facility’s cherished treasures. Visitors explore at their own pace until the main action begins. As one, the audience is immersed in lighting effects, projection-mapping, an original orchestral score and the basilica’s grandiose architecture, which are all made to flow together and transform the space before their very eyes. “As a guest, you don’t really understand all that goes into creating the beautiful dance that occurs between the various elements,” says Turp. “But you react; you feel the emotions. We are so lucky to work in these heritage sites, so privileged to bring them to life and share them with audiences.”
Thanks to the public’s enthusiastic response, the AURA experience series is expanding with the September 2023 launch of AURA Invalides in Paris, France. This monumental immersive undertaking fills the heart of the spectacular Dôme of the Hôtel national des Invalides. AURA Invalides builds and expands on the success Moment Factory has found in Montreal and in every one of its unique projects, as guests connect with the richness of the architecture and the stories of its heritage. “With every project, we learn more about our existing tools, and find new technologies to apply to our clients’ needs,” says Turp. “Every experience carries lessons that lead us to new solutions, that help us better understand how to connect with people and create community.”
Miroir Miroir/Mirror Mirror
The lessons learned were also applied to stage the Miroir Miroir/Mirror Mirror experience, a multi-part interactive art installation. Ticketed guests enter a chromatic and responsive world of light and sound that asks where do you go when you are lost in thought? Where do you go in your dreams? In Miroir Miroir/Mirror Mirror, thoughts generate poems, words become light, and gestures can spark a total transformation of one’s environment. Inspired by memory, imagination, dreams and consciousness, each of the distinct spaces invites guests to create their own special connection with the environment and with other guests.
An additional Miroir Miroir/Mirror Mirror experience was created for the Illuminate Adelaide event, and Moment Factory is looking to grow this product into a new series worldwide.
Where next?
Moment Factory continues to evolve, ascending new heights of creativity for touring concerts and live events. In 2021, the studio prophetically worked with frequent collaborator Billie Eilish on Where Do We Go? The Livestream, a live concert experience. As it celebrates 22 years of pushing the limits of technology and entertainment, the team continues to mine the potential of its mission and motto: “We do it in public.” The future of public spaces is constantly being defined and redefined and so they explore new and innovative approaches for creating deeper, more meaningful moments. While Moment Factory’s early aspiration was to create music for the eyes, thanks to decades of creating and producing so many ever-more immersive storytelling experiences, this team of collaborators is now composing far richer symphonies for the senses.
Moment Factory is a multidisciplinary studio dedicated to creating innovative multimedia experiences that inspire human connections and transform the world around us. Our team combines expertise in video, lighting, architecture, sound and special effects to create remarkable experiences. Headquartered in Montreal, the studio also has other addresses in Paris, Tokyo, New York City and Singapore. Since its inception in 2001, Moment Factory has created more than 500 unique projects worldwide, including the Lumina Night Walk and the AURA series. In collaboration with renowned artists, brands, museums, theme parks and cities, our productions span the globe and include such clients as Changi Airport, Notre- Dame Basilica of Montreal, Disney, Billie Eilish, Microsoft, the NBA, Sony, Boston Museum of Science, Universal Studios, The Toronto Zoo and the Reims Cathedral. Visit www.Momentfactory.com. •
