Mark Grimmer is the executive chair and co-founder of Fifty Nine Productions. This Olivier and Tony Award-winning design studio and production company creates immersive media for a wide range of audiences, with exhibitions, events, digital work for screen and VR, projection mapping, and live performances among their oeuvre.
The creative team includes experts in animation, filmmaking, writing, set, sound, and lighting design, among other fields. These skill sets are accompanied by specialised design and technical expertise to produce captivating and cutting-edge works.
Significant projects have included video design for the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, War Horse, and design and creative direction for the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V&A.
The studio also produces original theatrical productions, building on its experience in creating theatrical works for organisations such as the National Theatre, the Royal Opera House, The Metropolitan Opera and the Salzburg Festival.
In addition to assisting the board and management team in the expansion and development of the business, Grimmer directs projects and writes for projects across a variety of fields. His specialist interests include conceptual development and exploring new narrative techniques for three-dimensional spaces.
In 2023, Fifty Nine Productions created Lightroom in collaboration with the London Theatre Company. This space, located in Kings Cross, London, is dedicated to artist-led exhibitions and invites them to develop entirely new exhibitions using the extensive space and its ground-breaking technology.
Its programme launched with the acclaimed immersive exhibition Bigger & Closer (not smaller and further away) in collaboration with David Hockney. The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks will be on show from December 2023.
Following the success of the opening exhibition, Lightroom is expanding into international locations with its first new space opening in Seoul, South Korea.
Grimmer co-founded the company with Leo Warner in 2006, following a degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford University.