Aurora Borealis by Ambiances & Ex Machina

Aurora Borealis is a permanent and kinetic architectural illumination on the 600m long by 30m tall facade of the Bunge's grain silos, located in Quebec City's old port.

Aurora Borealis is inspired by the northern lights phenomenon. It is a contemplative illumination which aims to be an artistic rendering of nature's beauty. It is transposed thru five themes made up of sequences with color changes, movements and intensity variations such as the ones found in a northern light.

Aurora Borealis is also the meeting of two creators, Robert Lepage and Martin Gagnon, long-time collaborators, on such projects as The Image MillMC, ZuluTime and Elseneur. To achieve this public place intervention, the designers used green technologies that require little maintenance; all lighting devices use LEDs.

The complete installation consists of 574 LED spots in addition to the 1000 variable white LED pixels, used to create a starry night effect over the entire south facade of the building. The whole lighting system is completely automate. The project was realised and installed by Ex Machina.



The lighting installation will be a single theme daily, from dusk until 23:30, all-year-round until 2013.

Photos: Michel Loiselle
Lighting design: Martin Gagnon, Ambiance Lighting and Visual Design
Creator: Robert Lepage, Produced by Ex Machina

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