Cyber Illusions illuminates Colombo

Sri Lanka’s National Museum was the venue for a very different type of Vesak Pandol recently. For three nights, 6 to 8 May, the road frontage of this iconic building was transformed into a canvass on which the journey of Vesak was lovingly and respectfully told for the sake of passers-by.

Created by new media studio Cyber Illusions, for client the Ministry of Livestock and Rural Community Development, this Vesak feature was unveiled during the Vesak weekend with much pomp and circumstance for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, amidst peak festival time, and witnessed by throngs of gathered celebrants.

Using bleeding-edge video mapping technology and visuals via state-of-the-art digital projectors, the imagery of Vesak inhabited the traditional colonial frame of the National Museum, telling a tale scripted by award winning filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara.

At the same time, video mapping technology appeared to show this heritage structure twisting, turning and otherwise reacting in the most extraordinary ways.

However, this is not the first instance of visual magic revealed in recent times by Cyber Illusions, the new-kid-on-the-block becoming known as the standard in technology-based innovation.

Lead by visual technologist Lalindra Amarasekara and events veteran Imran Saibo, this venture has executed a number of high-technology creative concepts since their mid-2011 launch.

From websites to interactive and immersive digital environments, and everything in between, Cyber Illusions prides itself on developing unique, and differing, new media and entertainment solutions for each and every brief.

Another such innovative creation was the creative piece executed for Linea Aqua’s 10th anniversary celebration event, in which Cyber Illusions in collaboration with Kreyonic, combined motion sensors and projection mapping with to execute an interactive dance sequence which layered visual imagery over the moves of real dancers; in essence, combining the two aspects of the creative piece into a new and never-again-to-be-seen spectacle.

The video of this event and the Vesak Pandol as well as other Cyber Illusions projects are accessible via www.cyber-illusions.net or at ww.vimeo.com/cyberillusions and www.facebook.com/cyberillusions.

Known for creating impactful and public visual experiences at the Old Parliament Building, Dutch Hospital and the National Museum, and spearheaded by events and entertainment veterans Imran Saibo and Lalindra Amarasekara, Cyber Illusions is a new media and entertainment studio specialising in the conceptualisation and production of multimedia environments combining video, lighting, architecture, sound and special effects to create remarkable experiences.

Less than a year in operation, the firm already counts John Keells Holdings, Fonterra, Mobitel, Airtel, MAS Holdings and the Government of Sri Lanka as repeat customers.