Moment Factory’s Mirror, Mirror is the centrepiece for Illuminate Adelaide
A visionary light and multimedia experience that took Canada by storm is the centrepiece of this year’s Illuminate Adelaide – and it almost defies explanation.
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You walk into a river. It’s not a real one but a digital projection.
You dance through it, trying to step on different stones or rocks as you go.
It feels real, then a little surreal.
Objects react differently as your foot lands. Some dance away. Some move slowly. Others light up.
Before long, the environment seems to be reacting to your every move.
Lost in space and time, you forget where you are.
It reminds you of being a kid. You don’t think, you just play. Inhibitions vanish.
It’s a little hard to describe because you’re feeling it, rather than observing.
It’s more than a game; it’s almost like you’ve entered a different dimension, that you’ve become part of the environment.
It’s not like anything you’ve experienced before.
These aren’t my words, but an edited version of those by Illuminate co-director Lee Cumberlidge, when asked to describe Mirror Mirror, the latest work by multimedia studio Moment Factory.
He and fellow co-director Rachael Azzopardi are speaking from Canada, where they’ve just spent some time in Montreal seeing first-hand the work, which is set to hit Adelaide in an expanded format for Illuminate Adelaide in just a few short weeks.
Sitting in a darkened hotel room in Quebec, where they are planning to see Onhwa’ Lumina, Moment Factory’s collaboration with Canada’s First Nations people, both are battling to contain their excitement.
Mirror, Mirror is in the midst of its premiere run in Montreal and the pair are already thinking ahead to the expanded version coming exclusively to our city.
Cumberlidge says he is blown away by just how immersive the work is. And seamless.
“I think that’s what takes it beyond any experience we’ve seen certainly in Australia in my time, so we are very excited to be bringing that,” he says.
“And what we are bringing to Adelaide is scaled up quite a lot.”
Moment Factory, the world renowned Canadian studio, has had a close relationship with Illuminate since it started in 2021.
The brains behind the much-loved Light Cycles, they are this year’s artists in residence, and Cumberlidge and Azzopardi reckon they’re about to set a new benchmark.
“It’s very different to anything we’ve seen at Illuminate before, I mean, it’s different to anything I’ve ever seen in Australia, really,” Cumberlidge says.
“The idea that you can lose yourself inside a giant space, broken into more intimate experiences.”
Which makes it very different to the likes of Life Cycles, the walk through the Botanic Gardens, which was all based outdoors and was the start of the collaboration between the Moment Factory and Illuminate Adelaide teams.
“What struck me was the seamlessness of the interactive technology,” Cumberlidge says.
“In these artworks you really do feel like you’re inhabiting this transformed world, but the technology is in the background.”
Azzopardi adds: “They make the technology invisible in that it just happens and you immerse yourself, and you’re not really conscious of it because the experience takes over.”
Mirror Mirror will be housed in the Illuminate Pavilion, a purpose built structure on Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga.
Audiences will be offered a “choose your own adventure” type journey, with the option to enter through one of three doors, each with its own multimedia experience of music, sound, colour and immersive art, brought to life by complex digital technology and a healthy dose of AI.
Picture memories turned into poems, images amplified by mirrors and sound, words shooting through the air like lasers.
Azzopardi says she was taken by the simple feeling of just letting go. “We all sort of don’t want to be uncool, but we control ourselves,” she says.
“But in Mirror Mirror, you can just play. And what I loved is I could be part of the journey with Lee, we could play together on the river and create pictures together.
“Or I could have my moment on my own, creating on my own.
“That’s what Moment Factory has done so beautifully; it’s so lovely to gather together and play together.
“But you can also have your own experience, which is really special.”
She recalls one part, which asks the participants random questions through their mobile phone, such as: What is your favourite memory or what is the strangest thing anyone has ever bought you?
“And you put in the answer, and then it appears in front of you … and it’s just really beautiful,” Azzopardi says.
“So you’re part of that artwork. You’re creating the world that you’re in. And so it’s generated together. It’s togetherness, but it can also be an individual thing.
“And you get lost in this beautiful world where you’re just playing with the lasers and the mirrors and you can see yourself hundreds of times, but then you can see others.
“And so it’s just this perspective and this playfulness.
“That’s why we’re so excited. For people just to come in and escape reality.”
Marie Belzil studied cinema and wanted to direct documentaries.
She started working in TV but was then given the chance to work on a massive projection show by the legendary Robert Lepage, which celebrated the history of Quebec City, her hometown.
She didn’t have to be asked twice.
“ I told my friend that was working there, ‘If you need anybody even to bring the garbage out. I’ll do it’,” she says.
“So I jumped on it … and the night of the premiere, the feeling we have, we’re standing in front of that building, and we were delivering the show.
“And I felt this energy. You see the people and you see in their eyes a reaction together and it just felt so rewarding.”
A fire was lit inside and she forgot about making docos.
She then began working for Moment Factory, which started in Montreal in 2001 and now has bases in Tokyo, Paris, and New York, creating more than 525 projects worldwide, including the Lumina Night walk series, and has worked with everyone from Madonna, to Disney, Billie Eilish and Universal Studios.
“I spent the next 12 years doing all kinds of things,” Belzil says.
“Sometimes it could be like a visual environment for an airport, or a show of Jay Z and just crazy stuff, you know, but I was always learning.”
She’d team up with good friend Gabriel Pontbriand on a project for a small town out of Quebec City.
“Basically they wanted their bridge lit up and we offered them something totally different, and that was this night walk,” she says.
That was 10 years ago, it was a smash hit and so began the Night Walk series (Pontbriand is in charge of the latest incarnation, Resonate, at this year’s Illuminate).
“Since then, we travel all over the world to deliver those Lumina Night Walks and each time I encounter a new culture,” Belzil says.
“I learn about a different culture, a different vibe.”
Now Belzil, the creative director behind Mirror Mirror, is preparing to experience another new culture for the first time. Ours.
She and her small team will land in Adelaide in the next little while, working with local crews to put the finishing touches on the Vic Square precinct.
Describing Mirror Mirror as a journey into a chromatic world of light and sound, which creates different artworks inspired by the human mind, she says its aim is twofold: to promote connectedness, and to be a whole lot of fun.
“We wanted to create a fun world that was full of contrast and colours,” she says.
“And that was close to the identity of Moment Factory, which is a company that is really playful that creates human connections.
“And so we created a world that is often playing with illusion and creating this sense of suspending belief.
“We do a lot of different projects in the world and often will visit themes such as memories and dreams and imagination.
“So when we were developing this world, we thought that having the overall theme of the human mind made a lot of sense, because it would offer, you know, sub themes that would be interesting today.
“And then in 10 years it’s growing in our DNA and we’re happy to see this concept being able to grow over time.”
And the beauty of this one is it will appeal to kids and adults alike, she says.
“We see kids loving it and we also see the adults bringing back their kid’s-eyes,” she says.
“That’s the intention to, to bring back a little kid in you. So we’ll invite you to play.
“Even though you’re an adult, we will bring back a little playfulness in your life.”
It’s a message that is vital in a post-pandemic world, where people feel more isolated and uncertain, she says, adding that it’s a theme they’ve notice across all international showings,
“We create human connection and, in the world we live in, loneliness has never been so intense,” she says.
“So the mission of just bringing people together has never been so pertinent.
“It’s really rewarding to be able to do that little job of bringing a little magic, a little break from reality, and a little breath of imagination in people’s lives.”
This is the third year for Illuminate Adelaide.
The first battled through Covid-19 restrictions and some unkind weather, but a fire was lit around the city, participation remained solid and ground was recovered towards the end of the festival.
Last year knocked it out of the park though, with 1.2m attendances, helping to drive the highest ever spend for a July in the city, with an estimated $365m across shops, cafes, restaurants and hotels in the CBD and North Adelaide.
This year, all hurdles are officially in the rearview mirror and hopes are high.
Both co-creators, while hoping to consolidate local and visitor numbers this year, are already starting to plan ahead for the 2024 program.
“For us it really is about trying to bring the best of what’s happening all over the world, back to Adelaide, to really showcase what’s happening in this multimedia entertainment world,” Cumberlidge says.
“And at the same time really throw the doors open on what’s happening closer to home.
“We’ve been so inspired by what’s been happening in Adelaide and in Australia, when creativity and technology come together, so it’s about trying to bring that out into the public realm as well.
“Some of that work that happens often behind closed doors or is happening in adjacent industries like film industry and VFX and gaming and things like that.
“So it’s really about (Illuminate Adelaide) trying to unravel and showcase some of that great work. From here, and from all over the world.”
Azzopardi says they also hope to inspire and invigorate the next generation of creative minds, and to make them aware of what can be achieved in their own backyard.
“We want to inspire people and keep inspiring people to have those wonderful experiences,” she says.
“We want the young people to realise these things can come to Adelaide; that we can have the best in our hometown.”
Mystery tour
Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens will enjoy yet another takeover by Canadian multimedia studio Moment Factory when the Illuminate festival kicks off in a few short weeks.
After last year’s hit show Light Cycles, 2023’s iteration Resonate will feature six new installations along a new 1.7km night-time trail, bringing with it a bold mix of lighting design, video and special effects.
Moment Factory creative director Gabriel Pontbriand said the internationally focused team was rapt to return to the SouthAustralian capital for a third successive year, and a world premiere of the new show.
“We are looking forward to sharing Resonate, inspired by our human capacity for emotional and physical resonance with the environment,” he says.
Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium director Michael Harvey says the state’s “botanical collection and unique landscapes will be transformed anew, and we can’t wait to share with visitors the beauty of our garden under lights”.
Resonate
Adelaide Botanic Garden, entry via North Terrace gates; June 29 to July 30, Tue – Thu from 6pm, Fri – Sun from 5.30pm (sessions available every 15 minutes); tickets: $40 –$42 (under 4 years free, however, a ticket is still required)
Mirror Mirror
Illuminate Pavilion, Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga; June 28 to July 30, Tue – Thu and Sun 10am – 7pm, Fri and Sat 10am – 9pm; tickets: $36 –$49
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