Many images, one focus: Dataton WATCHOUT allows ‘seamless’ blending of British ballgowns at the V&A

Linköping, Sweden, 2 October 2012: A spectacular display of over 60 designs for outfits from the last six decades of fashion design, ‘Ballgowns: British Glamour since 1950’ is the first exhibition to use the newly renovated Fashion Galleries at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. An array of flowing gowns, red-carpet evening dresses and catwalk show-stoppers that is as historically fascinating as it is beautiful to see, the exhibition has been given an additional dimension thanks to an AV installation in which Dataton WATCHOUT™ plays a pivotal role.

“The exhibition is designed like a kind of huge wedding cake, with the circular display taking its cue from the splendid domed structure overhead,” says Robert Simpson of Electrosonic, which provided on-site integration of the AV components from an initial system design by Sysco. “The items from the V&A’s permanent collection are on the lower level while dresses that have been loaned to the museum temporarily are on the upper one.”

It is on this upper level that four pairs of vertically stacked projectiondesign® F32 series projectors have been mounted in bespoke enclosures, so that a sequence of photographs from the collection can be displayed on the four big alcoves that run off the Fashion Galleries’ dome.

“These alcoves make an unusual and spectacular projection surface, but because they have a compound curvature, we needed to warp each pair of projected images as well as blend them seamlessly together. This is what WATCHOUT enables us to do, and the results are very striking,” says Simpson.

Fredrik Svahnberg, Marketing Director, Dataton, adds: “The museum market has always been a strong one for WATCHOUT when it comes to new-build attractions, but now we are also seeing long-established facilities embracing our technology as a means of exploiting the natural beauty of their traditional architecture.

“The V&A is a great example of this. The seamless blending and geometry correction features of WATCHOUT have allowed the museum to use projection in a way they could not otherwise have imagined, and we are delighted that our long-standing relationship with Electrosonic has created an installation of which all of us on the AV technology side can be extremely proud.”