ÜNI PUBLIC ART AT BOSTON BALLET

Earlier this year, Boston Ballet approached MASARY Studios to collaborate on a touring public art piece which could showcase their dance videos within a 360 dome display system and be installed within one day. As the project evolved, ÜNI Public Art became a large-scale public installation featuring lit sculpture and multi-channel surround sound.

MASARY's team began with the idea to add a sculptural pavilion and immersive theatre for dance and abstract media with an overall goal of bringing free, cutting-edge dance to the public. Rather than forcing over-the-top visuals on their audience, they chose a quieter approach, hiding the dome within the rest of the piece and inviting the audience to discover it.

One key to their success was iteration: MASARY tested over forty designs for the overall structure. They trialled dome content through a VR headset before building the structure for an in-person experience. The team then created most of the audio in Ableton Live. They made the visuals using green-screen footage of Boston Ballet dancers, which they pieced together with Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Notch.

With Notch's native 3D environment, MASARY could maintain a constant conversation with the dome's geometry. They set particles to make procedural decisions and behave according to the logic of the dome. In one scene, for example, they adjusted particle attraction levels, turbulence, and rotation of the 3D hemisphere with a MIDI controller. 

Additional press coverage:

Forbes, The Boston Globe.