Medellin, Colombia’s Landmark “Vida” and “Interactivas” Fountains Debut to Live Orchestral Accompaniment at Huge “Festival of Lights” Celebration
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Prominent interactive technologies company MediaMation, Inc. (MMI) of Torrance, CA, was among a tightly knit consortium of respected entertainment and technology houses to contribute experience and expertise to two of Medellin, Colombia’s newest high-profile tourist attractions — the “Vida” and “Interactivas” fountain installations.
Debuting to extensive international media coverage and tens of thousands of enthusiastic spectators, “Vida” is located in front of the EPM building, Colombia’s largest utilities provider. Vida’s elaborate multi-colored lights and next-generation fountain dancing capabilities were showcased during a real-time, highly synchronized live orchestral performance celebrating “Los Alumbrados, ” South America’s “Festival of Lights, ” in December 2009. Vida continues to be a major tourist draw throughout the continent. Because of its immense popularity, MMI was recently asked to add more choreographed songs to the attraction in November 2010.
MMI’s previous fountain technology credits include the “Five River Fountain of Lights” in Dayton, OH, the Bicardi International Headquarters fountain in Bermuda, the Palm Beach Zoo and many other high profile installations. For “Vida” and “Interactivas, ” MediaMation served as a subcontractor to prominent fountain designer Georgia Fountain Company, Inc. on this, as well as on many other elite projects. These included the “Centennial Olympic Park – Fountain of Rings” in Atlanta, GA (1996 Olympic Fountain upgraded in 2006-2007 with 256 water switches, 1, 025 individually controlled colored lamps and 16 pumps) and the “Puerto Rico Convention Center Fountain” in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
For the EPM project in Medellin, Colombia, MMI supplied its proprietary Virtual Fountain™ 3D visualization software, as well as fountain programming and dancing musical choreography. All three’s elaborate control was handled via MMI’s popular “ShowFlow™” controller.
"The ultimate in versatility and precision control for the theatrical display of water."
“Vida, ” the primary of the two attractions at the EPM project, is a highly theatrical, 850 plus-jet dancing fountain spectacle, set in a large reflecting pool in front of the EPM building. Outfitted with 224 RGB (red, green, blue) LED fixtures, these LEDS have the ability to produce 16 million, vivid, highly saturated color variations. A network of more than 96 water switches, nozzles, pipes, 12 Variable Frequency Drives controlling over 800 HP in pump capacity, along with two each CO2 powered water cannons and water-based artificial fog systems, all operate on a power supply of 1200 amperes at 208V. The aforementioned all work to create intricate, spiraling and swaying patterns of oval and fan shapes while choreographed 10M average-height jets explode – with the biggest jet spouting 30 meters into the air. A magical “wall of water” effect (running on a 250 HP pump by itself) produces a shimmering liquid 15M+ radius projector screen onto which videos and laser-animated logos can be projected utilizing a BARCO Projector #FLM HD 14 and a 10 watt LPS RGB laser system. Prior to the recent song upgrades in Nov. 2010, Vida performed three different “shows, ” plus an end credit sequence, multiple times a day to live or pre-recorded music.
The second fountain attraction, “Interactivas, ” located about a mile away from Vida in the city’s main plaza, is loosely linked in concept to Vida but is less elaborate in terms of production values, although it takes up a major portion of the plaza itself. This installation is “interactive, ” meaning people can actually run through the fountain jets (approximately 2 to 3 meters high) and cool off on a hot day. Interactivas features 395 RGB fixtures, over 300 jets, 10 Variable Frequency Drives and over 300 digital controlled solenoid valves.
Quoting John Leder with Georgia Fountain Company, Inc. regarding MMI’s Virtual Fountain™ software and control technology: “It is the ultimate in versatility and precision control for the theatrical display of water.”
Notes Tim Adams, project manager for MediaMation, Inc., who performed behind-the-scenes during the gala premiere of Vida: “Working on Vida was one of the highlights of my career thus far. It was truly a fantastic experience to be ‘playing’ control board sliders and faders like an instrument to create choreographed effects in synch with the nuances of a full, live orchestra. Our ShowFlow™ software worked beautifully and the crowd was going wild. To our knowledge, Vida’s real-time, live operator debut to a live orchestra could have been a World’s First.”
MediaMation is located at 2213 Border Avenue, Torrance, CA 90501. For more information, call 310-320-0696; fax 310-320-0699. The email address is Danj@mediamat.com. URL is www.mediamat.com.
