Monique Cousineau, Social Media Specialist of Philips North America, shares in this blog entry how colorful lighting displays in Montreal, Canada have transformed a drab public space into a colorful ice palace.

For five years now Luminothérapie has been an integral part of Montreal’s winter DNA. Luminothérapie is a festival where art, design and light come together. The lighting projects chosen always bring uplifting and imaginative installations that enhance downtown Montreal’s urban spaces during the cold frigid months. This year they do it again in a very playful way.

Prismatica by the firm RAW Design in Toronto in collaboration with Atomic3 is a large scale immersive installation comprised of 50 pivoting prisms that transform the popular public space, Place des Festivals, into a vibrant and colorful ice palace. Through these giant kaleidoscopes visitors can wander and observe the Quartier des Spectacles (entertainment district) through a new light. It’s a totally fun experience to see the prisms create overlapping transparencies, patterns and reflections on the snow and ice.

RAW Design installed the colorful Prismatica displayed in Montreal, Canada. (All Photos Credit of Philips)

Day or night the visitors are able to interact with the installation. Turning the giant prisms causes mesmerizing transformations of countless colors. During the day, under natural light one can produce shimmering effects on the surroundings. At night it’s all about creating atmospheric lighting and making the kaleidoscopes chime in harmony.

People interacting with the shimmering displays panels.

Measuring more than two meters tall (over 6 ft) the prisms are made of panels covered with a filter that transmits and reflects every color in the rainbow, varying with the position of the light source and the observer.

The prisms are mounted on bases that contain light projectors and speakers. As they pivot, they create polychromatic effects accompanied by a series of variable-intensity bell sounds. Magical moments emerge with musical undertones through the interplay of these various sources of light and sound.

The displays seen at night.

Luminothérapie has become an important platform for the next generation of lighting designers. With their sometimes playful, sometimes soulful lighting installations they are bringing interactive and digital art to the masses and making winter a lot more enjoyable and animated.