Australian Pavilion World Expo Lit By Martin Manias

The 2005 World Exposition is currently on in Aichi, Japan and the inspiration for Expo 2005 is the marvelous mechanism of nature and the power of life. What better environment for Mania fire and water effects?

The Australian pavilion reflects this theme – “Nature’s Wisdom” – from an Australian perspective. Visitors to the Australian pavilion gain an understanding that through learning the lessons of the past and using modern day technology, we are better able to provide for the sustainable future – environmentally, economically and socially.

The pavilion showcases Australia’s unique lifestyle – a lifestyle that has been shaped by the harsh and beautiful continent and has been influenced and enriched by the people that have come to its shores, including indigenous Australians, European settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries, and more recent arrivals to Australia from Asia and all around the world.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is the overall project manager for the Australian pavilion.

Journey in three acts
The Australian Government appointed Melbourne-based firm Think!OTS to design, construct and maintain the Australian pavilion. Think! OTS joined forces with the major Japanese exhibition company Delphys Inc, which has been designing and building pavilions stretching back to the World Expo held in Osaka in 1970. Leading indigenous design firm Balarinji is also part of the Think!OTS team. 

Phil Lethlean was appointed as lighting designer for the Australian pavilion with Lightmoves supplying most of the lighting equipment. 

The pavilion provides a journey in three acts starting with an entrance foyer which houses a Martin Mania that projects the word ‘Eternity’, written in Japanese.

“I thought that would be a fun element,” said Phil. “The Manias are fantastic for this type of work. We just whipped out the standard gobos, played with the lenses a bit and inserted our own gobos. It gives us an animated feel.

“We also bypassed all the transformers on them so that we could dim them bearing in mind everything is 100 volts in Japan. It works really well.”

In fact the Australian pavilion is saturated by Martin Manias – DC1’s and DC2’s – thirty two in total, all supplied by Lightmoves through Martin’s Australian distributor, Show Technology.

“They really deliver bang for your buck!” commented Phil.

Act One
Act One takes visitors back 65,000 years to a time when Australia was populated by its indigenous peoples alone, through the depiction of Australia’s unique environment and indigenous culture and traditions. Visitors experience the natural elements – lightning, fire and rain – and learn about the importance of nature’s cleansing and rejuvenating qualities. The focal point is the image of a Boab tree – a unique tree that exists in Australia’s deserts and survives by storing life-giving water in the swollen base of its trunk. Australia’s indigenous traditions and culture feature strongly in this element of the journey.

Six Martin Mania DC2’s fade up and down with custom-made gobos replacing the standard fire gobos. A lot of the artwork for the new Mania gobos was done by the design firm Balarinji including stylized fire and rain, plus a snake.

”We also took out the double lens in some of them, leaving just a single lens, and focused them onto the Piezo glass that encases the display,” explained Phil. “As we had put in our own transformers they could fade up and down; all of the motors run of normal mains with just the lamp transformer running separately.”

Act Two
Act Two projects a dynamic and positive image of contemporary Australia through the cutting edge technology used in the pavilion’s Data Forest. Some 80 plasma screens form “data totems” rising from the floor of the pavilion – a fascinating combination of Australia’s indigenous past and technologically advanced present. The data totems tell a story of a modern, culturally diverse and harmonious nation with a successful economy – today’s Australian experience. The screens are situated on two faces of the triangular totems and the perimeter of the room has a woven white acrylic finish which Phil has lit with twenty-four Selecon Hue cyc lights hung from above. The white finish also reflects a lot of color from the screens.

Act Three
Act Three introduces guests to the future through the pavilion mascot – the platypus. For Australia, the platypus symbolizes the past, present and future. The platypus existed 65,000 years ago and has remained largely unchanged since that time. It has outlived most other prehistoric animals due to its ability to adapt and the fact its environment has been largely unchanged by human arrival in Australia.

With the proactive cleaning-up of Australia’s riverways in recent decades, the platypus numbers are now starting to grow. The message here is that by caring about all of nature’s creatures, we provide the environment a safe and sustainable development into the future – a priority for the Australian Government.

Most of the Martin Manias are located here – Mania DC1’s - representing a river; the white walkway acts as an ideal projection surface for the ceiling mounted Manias which project a watery effect along the path.

“It flows at the right speed and there is very little shadow cast from the people,” said Phil. “It really looks like a swirling stream.”

Other lighting includes sixty PAR 16s on droplets in the ceiling which is made of weld mesh and pressed perforated aluminum leaves through which the lights shine on a flicker chase. Behind the trees are a few 18-watt fluorescents to wash the wall. Control was LSC two phase racks built especially for the project. Also highlighting the importance and the breadth of the Australia-Japan relationship, the pavilion has a specially-designed Trade Floor where more than 130 business events, VIP functions and seminars for community participation take place.