Cyber Illusions and AV Lab win big at WOW Awards Asia

• Wins Silver for innovative ‘Time Machine’ LIVE experience and Bronze for Oman’s largest projection-mapping project

Live experience designer and consultant Cyber Illusions, supported by local audiovisual pioneer AV Lab, won big at WOW Awards Asia, bringing home multiple medals from the prestigious awards show that was held recently at New Delhi Aerocity. The recognised work was conceived and executed by the VAEG (Visual Art and Experiences Group) Collective, a creative partnership between Cyber Illusions and AV Lab.

The Collective was awarded a coveted Silver for ‘Achievement in Audio Visual Film’ for its ‘Time Machine – Lion Re-Launch’ submission, in addition to a hard-won Bronze for ‘Achievement in Projection Mapping’ for its ‘Graduation Ceremony of MTC Oman’ entry. These impressive wins were achieved within an extremely competitive talent pool where thousands of well-crafted, creative and innovative entries, from over 25 countries, battled it out for top honours.

Since 2009, the WOW Awards have been the epitome of cultivating and celebrating excellence in creation of LIVE events. Today, WOW Awards and Convention Asia is the region’s largest business and recognition platform for the Experiential Marketing, MICE, LIVE Entertainment and Wedding industry. A staggering 1,056 event planners converged at the convention in 2017 with over 1,400 entries in the running for the coveted #WOWAwardsAsia. Winning Silver for the Collective was its ‘Time Machine’ for the re-launch of Lion Breweries, an event produced by Ant’s Works Ltd., which featured a live feat of techno-magic that was conceptualised to trick the senses. Comprising a seamless, immersive LED display where panels were placed 270 degrees around the venue to almost fully wrap-around the audience, the work featured content with high level of animation to give it a hyper realistic motion experience. The pixel canvas was 14000 x 720 pixels. The motion of the visuals was carefully deployed to deliver the experience of rotation so the audience felt the room rotating and even became slightly disoriented. Achieved by building layer within layer of moving elements, which utilised a parallax motion. 

Kicking off with audiences pulled into a gigantic ‘Time Machine’ that buzzed and beeped systematically, their journey began in the present year. The experience next treated guests to a room where lights flickered on and off, showering them with a series of electrical sparks that were actually simulated. This Time Machine then vibrated, making a lot of noise, while the year on display started to count backwards. Each time the time machine transported the audience to a specific time, visuals and audio from that period were played to tell a story from that particular date. Coordinated lights and CO2 machines added to the effect throughout the experience.

The Collective won its Bronze for delivering the largest projection-mapping live experience in Oman for that country’s Military Technical College. Featuring a set up that spanned over 620 feet, across two buildings; the installation was part of a ceremony marking the graduation of the college’s first batch of recruits. Handpicked by Oman’s leading event solutions provider, GT Stage Tech, for this remarkable undertaking, VAEG was chosen due to its exciting portfolio of successful projects carried out across Asia and the Middle East, which showed it was abundantly qualified to deliver a project of this unique scale and complexity. This was especially important considering the many potential technical issues that had to be taken into consideration, which required a high degree of creative and technological talent and experience.  

Lalindra Amarasekara, a 10-year veteran of the Creative and Audio Visual Industry, and Managing Director of Cyber Illusions said, “We at VAEG are particularly pleased to be recognised at this year’s WOW Awards Asia, which is widely regarded as the most holistic platform in the world showcasing almost every aspect of the event business. I am especially thrilled that our highly innovative work for ‘Time Machine’ and Oman’s largest projection-mapping project is being highlighted because these are clear examples that there are no longer any boundaries to creativity in today’s events industry.”

A merging of technology and art, delivering unparalleled live experiences, VAEG (Visual Art and Experiences Group) is a Collective that has taken Sri Lanka’s design aesthetic and inventiveness to the world in a big way. A focus for VAEG is the creation of large-format visual content and performances where the canvas or workspace is multi-dimensional and encompasses LED walls, buildings and events, all of which is combined to create awe in the mind of the audience. 

From automating smart homes and offices, to standout exhibitions and truly epic live shows, Cyber Illusions provides the innovative design pedigree required by VAEG to deliver a wide scope of services to achieve the mandate of each and every project, coming in under budget every time.