Digital Projection Brings History to Life in PROOF Exhibition

One of Europe’s largest exhibition centres for contemporary art and photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg is renowned for the quality of its exhibits which are visited by thousands of people from all over the world each year. From February to May 2018 it played host to PROOF; a landmark exhibition which brought together the works of three major artists spanning the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries and three continents – with Digital Projection’s E-Vision Laser 10K projectors playing a central role in its impactful execution.

PROOF was curated by Kate Fowle, Chief Curator at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, collaborating with Robert Longo, whose own work is featured in the exhibition alongside that of Spanish artist Francisco Goya and Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein. New York-based artist Longo explores burning contemporary issues such as terrorism, refugee movements, modern warfare and symbols of power in his drawings ranging up to 7.5 metres in size. In PROOF, his work came together with that of Eisenstein (1898 – 1948), who dealt with Russian history in classic films such as ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ (1925) and ‘Ivan the Terrible’ (1945); and Goya (1746 – 1828) who chose the medium of printmaking for his socially critical series of works and haunting images of war.

Ivo Schob, technical director at Deichtorhallen with responsibility for overseeing facility management and the set-up of all new exhibitions, elaborates on how projection came to play a central role in PROOF: “Using projection was a key part of the curatorial concept of Fowle and Longo. By slowing down the seven most important films of Sergey Eisenstein to 1% of their normal speed, visitors would be drawn to the very special aesthetic in his filmmaking.”

Digital Projection’s German event-distribution partner ETHA International GmbH & Co. KG supplied the laser projectors to project manager Frank Zahn from local AV company Musik- und Soundservice Schwerin, who integrated the projectors. On top of its performances, ETHA selected the E-Vision Laser 10K because it was the only projector with a very wide horizontal lens shift which, coupled with a wide 0.75 – 0.93:1 zoom lens, made the installation possible.

Andreas Voss, Digital Projection’s DACH regional sales manager, expands: “A total of seven E-Vision Laser 10K projectors were specified for this exhibition. Using Dynamic Black technology, the E-Vision Laser 10K boasts a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, as well as a powerful seven point colour correction for accurate colour matching. This projector is the perfect fit for professional and art venues such as Deichtorhallen that contend with high levels of ambient light, ensuring that the audience experiences the content with saturated colours, bright imagery and the all-important dark area detail, which were all crucial for this exhibition.”

A Single Chip DLP laser projector, the E-Vision Laser 10K is suitable for medium to large screens and capable of producing over 20,000 hours of illumination. Delivering 10,500 ISO Lumens from a stable solid-state light source, no lamp replacements are needed, making the projector virtually maintenance free, while reducing its total cost of ownership.”

Concludes Schob: “We were really pleased with how the E-Vision Laser 10K projectors performed – with excellent light distribution and ‘black areas’, they were the perfect fit for our aesthetic needs, and also delivered in terms of reliability which is key for a high footfall, high visibility setting. Operationally, they were also easy to handle with clear, intuitive menus.”

“It is fair to say that these projectors played an important part in the success of the exhibition which was extremely well received. Visitors were full of praise for the projections – especially the large size and quality – an overwhelmingly positive response. We would turn to Digital Projection without hesitation for any future large scale projection installations.”