China Pavilion

China Pavilion - Digital Tapestry

In 2010 during the Shanghai Expo, the China Pavilion hosted one of the most popular, immersive and interactive digital displays.

The theme of the Shanghai expo was “Better City – Better Life” and while most of the focus was on technological inventions and advancements, the goal of the China Pavilion was to show the past, present and future. The best illustration of this was the centerpiece of the Pavilion – a stunning digital tapestry that takes one of China’s most famous paintings and updates it for the 21st Century. 

Crystal CG was instrumental in developing and creating the display which takes Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú (Along the River During the Qingming Festival) – a panoramic painting by Zhang Zeduan (AD 1085 and 1145) – and brings it to life by turning it into a 130-meter-long, 6.3-meter-high animated digital mural.

30 times the size of the original, the digital version animated from night into day and back again every four minutes, featuring 691 day characters and 377 night time characters. Crystal's creative team chose to use advanced technology to convey the ancient, theme, preserving the key elements of the original painting whilst creating new content in an attempt to tell the story behind the images.

2 years in the making, this project showcases Crystal CG's capabilities in producing stunning digital artistry and innovative digital displays.

Technical Specs:

12 projectors were used to project the Digital Tapestry onto one 130m by 6m screen. The configuration of each projector was CHRISTIE 12000-15000 Lumen. Crystal also used seam joining technology to integrate all 12 projectors into one complete picture.