Sila Sveta
Sila Sveta is an interactive media, production and conceptual design company combining innovative technology with creative expression to develop immersive digital art installations and experiences around the world.
Based in Moscow and New York, Sila Sveta works with the world’s most recognizable luxury brands, including Audi, Samsung, Lexus, Vogue, Alexander Wang, and Lamborghini, and artists such as Drake and the Bolshoi Ballet, to communicate transformative messages using original content for emerging technologies.
As the first call for every outrageous, unthinkable, and unknown possibility in the field of digitally immersive orchestrations, the experience engineers of Sila Sveta take viewers on an awe-inspiring and dynamic visual journey through custom video content, large scale interactive displays, architectural installations, kinetic sculpture, stage shows, and projection mapping.
Drake concert tour
In August 2018, rapper Drake and hip-hop trio Migos kicked off their North American concert tour, ‘Aubrey & The Three Migos,’ in support of Drake’s new album, ‘Scorpion,’ which had over one billion plays in the week after its release.
Sila Sveta developed the visual stage design at the invitation of American director Willo Perron who is known for his work with Kanye West, Rihanna, Jay-Z, The Weeknd, and others. It was at once a light box and a gargantuan projector on which images of mermaids circling around Drake like sharks were shown and molten lava morphed into a rippling, sun-dappled pool. Its ever-shifting designs became a visual feast for the duration of the show.
Drake’s Spring 2019 European tour, “Assassination Vacation,” utilized the same stage design.
Drake’s new tour is worth seeing for the stage alone. It isn’t just a stage, it’s a piece of multimedia art.— Vulture
Billie Eilish ‘Where Do We Go?’
This Livestream was teased as a one of a kind experience complete with specialized immersive lighting and effects from Montreal’s Moment Factory, boundary-pushing XR technology courtesy of XR Studios and interactive production by Los Angeles-based Lili Studios, all powered by the platform Maestro.
As the lights drenched the stage in an over-saturated shade of red, Eilish appeared wearing a glitzy two-piece Gucci set to open with “Bury a Friend.”
The crowd was hardly big enough for Eilish, who was selling out venues the size of Madison Square Garden earlier this year; so, she had fans’ faces appear by the dozens on the massive monitors surrounding her so that she could perform directly to them during “Everything I Wanted.” And as she sang, “As long as I’m here/ No one can hurt you,” it felt like she flipped the script, making a promise to fans that she will proudly continue to be their voice of a generation.
I realized in quarantine that onstage is the only place I’ve ever felt like myself and like I belonged.— Billie Eilish
Phillip Lim x FILA
Sila Sveta ended 2019 with an exciting project — the first collaboration with the legendary studio Bureau Betak accounted for major fashion shows across the world. Sila Sveta created digital content for the premiere of the new Fila x Phillip Lim collection in Shanghai.
The studio designed the 3D logo for Fila x Phillip Lim and the visuals for the main screen. The digital environment for the show was inspired by the tie-dye print that was one of the themes of the collection and the images of Shanghai where the show took place. Sila Sveta also created abstract art that was based on the color palettes of the clothes.
Apart from that, the visuals included the stylized live video of the show streamed in real-time. Sila Sveta used Notch software to apply filters to the live footage. This way, the audience saw the real fashion show simultaneously with the digitally manipulated version of it on the screen.
Bolshoi Ballet: ‘Levitation’
Choreographed by Anna Abalikhina and designed by Sila Sveta, Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet presented a dance performance called ‘Levitation’ for Russia K TV featuring an unconventional shooting angle to create an illusion of the dancer levitating in air.
The video went viral globally, receiving over five million views within its first month. An opportunity to experiment without limitations and test technologies developed in-house by the studio itself, Sila Sveta developed the creative concept and visual graphics for the performance and introduced its graphic script designed in unity with the choreography.
‘Levitation’ was a distinctive project demonstrating unprecedented technological solutions in which the dancer becomes part of the mixed reality and the viewers become participants in the story.
Levitation is a unique non-commercial experiment with a large team involved, including staff of the TV channel, the choreographer and the filming crew. From the very beginning they gave Sila Sveta complete artistic freedom. This was a great experience of working with complex tracking software and generative content— Arthur Kondrashenkov, art director
Alexander Wang
Alexander Wang’s Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show, staged at New York’s iconic Rockefeller Center, paid homage to the giants of American sportswear as reimagined by the designer in an al fresco setting.
The presentation, which welcomed 1,000 members of the public to attend alongside the industry insiders seated rinkside, featured visuals created by Sila Sveta in partnership with Creative Director Willo Perron. A massive LED stage served as the runway, set up in front of the gold Prometheus statue, shifting from a pulsing white field to an American flag (subverted with a letter “A”) blowing in the wind in an ode to Wang’s concept of Americana.
This show at Rockefeller Center marks the first time that a fashion brand has ventured into what would have been a logistical nightmare—but Wang and his team managed to pull it off seamlessly. Overall, it was a great representation of both the brand and its home city.— Surface Magazine
The Edition Hotel: Times Square
For the 2019 opening of Ian Schrager’s new Edition hotel in New York’s iconic Times Square, Sila Sveta took over one of the largest and most technically-advanced LED displays in the world with site-specific artwork that augmented architecture with environment.
Covering the building’s facade along its perimeter, the studio created the illusion of a glass box brimming with abstractions of bright hues on the massive 18,000 square foot screen. The content coated the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue for several months, repeating on a loop eight times per hour for Times Square’s 330,000 unique daily visitors and establishing a new visual dialogue with the city.
Media coverage included The New York Times, Document Journal, and Whitewall
We wanted to bring something unforgettable to Times Square and create an iconic moment to mark the opening of The Times Square Edition. The activations are unique visual experiences that the public can take part in to celebrate this momentous occasion.— Ian Schrager
Vogue Magazine
For the 20th anniversary of Russian Vogue, Sila Sveta presented a collaboration of light technologies, contemporary art, and museum architecture at Moscow’s iconic New Tretyakov Gallery.
Inspired by the nation’s avant-gardists of the early 20th century, Sila Sveta converted the space into one large installation with 35 projectors and three servers directed onto the ceiling, stairs, columns, and parapet. The studio synthesized light and sound using modern technologies to create a show for the legendary building’s façade and courtyard based on four main elements: Soviet modernism, the Russian avant-garde, Vogue’s celebrated history, and Ishome electronic music.
The Russian avant-garde is known all over the world. Kandinsky, Malevich, and Lissitsky are all well known. The best of their work is right in the Tretyakov Gallery, so we decided to take the collection as a starting point and update this style on the walls and ceiling of the museum’s legendary architecture.— Alexander Us, Co-founder, Sila Sveta
Lamborghini Huracán
Luxury automotive manufacturer Lamborghini commissioned Sila Sveta to produce a spectacular multimedia show for the 2019 European launch of its Huracán EVO supercar in Moscow. It was Sila Sveta’s second commission for Lamborghini, after the 2018 premiere of the manufacturer’s Urus model.
While the EVO was seemingly assembled right in front of viewers’ eyes, the studio’s objective was to erase any distinction between ‘real’ phenomena and digital illusion. After taking over Moscow’s Cition Hall, the multimedia show was later presented for the premiere of the Lamborghini EVO in Berlin, London, and Milan.
The world has been waiting too long to see the border between screen and reality blurred. We brought to this project our own restless energy and ambition, and our excitement for a future that more seamlessly merges the digital and the real. We used real lasers to create digital worlds; we gave life to drawn objects. We strove to break into a new era with our presentation — and to mirror Lamborghini’s accomplishments with the EVO.— Sila Sveta
Samsung Galaxy
After several wildly successful collaborations, Samsung once again tapped Sila Sveta to produce artful content for the opening and closing acts of the world premiere of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ at Galaxy Unpacked 2018 – a key presentation by Samsung Mobile – held ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Utilizing an enormous LED setup for the show (the total area of the four screens amounted to almost 1,000 square meters / 10,000 square feet), the 360-degree structure was clearly visible for more than 5,000 people in the venue and was augmented with extra smart-LED strips that featured animation interrelated with the content being shown on the screen.
Audi A7
For the world premiere of the new Audi A7 at the brand’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, Sila Sveta developed a concept that included a 25-meter projection dome installed on the roof of the newly built Audi Design Center, allowing visitors to immerse themselves into the complex lights and lasers of the vivid show.
Under Armour
In September 2019, Under Armour opened its first global flagship store, the ‘Brand House Shinjuku’ in Tokyo, Japan, selling limited-edition souvenirs in addition to products and featuring a classroom for public workout and yoga workshops. The multi-level complex showcases innovative digital artwork developed by Sila Sveta for its interior and exterior, including geometric patterns of the brand’s signature red, white, grey and black colors inspired by Under Armour’s new RUSH collection of responsive textiles and gear that enhance athletic performance.
Sila Sveta’s minimalistic, dynamic animation and atmospheric LED floor immediately draw attention to the shop and reflect the unique blend of technology and fashion that is central to Under Armour’s philosophy.
Lamborghini Urus
In partnership with Departáment agency, Sila Sveta presented the new Lamborghini Urus to the Russian audience, having set a new benchmark in the industry of multimedia shows.
On February 15, 2018 the world’s first Super Sport Utility Vehicle from the legendary Italian manufacturer was introduced in the Museum of Moscow. For the main show, Sila Sveta presented a unique mix of multimedia technologies, including projection on kinetic surfaces suspended on winches. The creative visual content of the show was seamlessly connected with the technical part reflecting the approach of Lamborghini engineers to the creation of Urus.
SIGNAL Festival
For two years, Sila Sveta has collaborated with True Light Crew to prepare the main stage at Signal, a large-scale experimental festival of music and architecture in the Russian art-park of Nikola-Lenivets, which has become a haven for creative minds and educated travelers.
For two years, Sila Sveta has collaborated with True Light Crew to prepare the main stage at Signal, a large-scale experimental festival of music and architecture in the Russian art-park of Nikola-Lenivets, which has become a haven for creative minds and educated travelers.
Spring Place
Spring Place, the exclusive, members-only NYC club that draws fashion influencers, celebrities, and creatives, commissioned Sila Sveta to update a holiday icon for NYC’s creative class. Inspired by industrial design, creative director Polina Zakh’s eight-foot-tall installation offered a minimalist interpretation of a traditional Christmas tree.
Featuring a latticed cage of wire mesh surrounding a plexiglass pyramid with geometric designs etched into its surface, the installation felt like a cyberpunk vision of futuristic holidays. An LED light hung overhead in the room, enveloping the installation in a colorful bath of light.
Epicenter
An abandoned factory became a living organism with only the use of lights and sound in Epicenter, a collaboration between Sila Sveta and Russian light artists, Tundra. This experimental light installation was a spontaneous idea that arose during work for a popular Moscow techno club temporarily housed in the Trekhgornaya Manufactury, a now-empty space of urban decay.
The space seamlessly transformed into a dance club, a wet underground cave, a crisply choreographed forest, and a blinding corridor of light. Sila Sveta’s piece, Phantom, used mostly bright white light to create a sense of urgency and rapid movement, while localized strobe-style lighting challenged the viewer’s sense of center and orientation.
Met Gala
For the 2017 Met Ball celebrating the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, ‘Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between,’ Sila Sveta partnered with Vogue and filmmaker Gordon von Steiner to create a digital portrait studio for the audience of prominent fashion and Hollywood attendees.
The immersive light installation featured mutative projections in celebration of Rei Kawakubo’s designs, patterns and approach to art and fashion. The mesmerizing animated visuals were coordinated with elaborate lighting cues and loud music; together they merged into one breathtaking alternative reality show.
Guests who interacted with the installation included Met Gala co-host Katy Perry, Anna Wintour, Madonna, Gisele Bündchen, Kim Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, A$AP Rocky, Celine Dion, and many more.
The idea was to create a video installation where the environment would be able to adapt to the person who enters it. When the person steps inside the installation, it should be able to transform from minimalist to maximalist, colorful to monochromatic, beautiful to bizarre. I got in touch with Sila Sveta to design a space that could do exactly that.— Gordon von Steiner
Lexus Dome
The Lexus Dome is the first of its kind multi-functional space, located in the territory of the OKO center in Moscow. In 2017, Sila Sveta partnered with the luxury automotive brand to create a series of interactive installations dedicated to the world of Lexus as two new models, the Lexus LC and Lexus LS, were presented in the space.
The Lexus Interactive Zone by Sila Sveta was a brand philosophy embodied in the physical world with the help of interactive technologies accessible to every Lexus Dome guest. A journey into the world of Lexus and an introduction to what drives the designers and engineers of the brand ¬– inspiration, philosophy, technical features, and design — was presented with the help of Sila Sveta’s unique digital environment to create a vivid, immersive experience.
Sound Up | Planetarium
Sila Sveta partnered with SOUND UP Russia to create visuals for one of its concerts, which took place at the Moscow Planetarium.
For the seventh concert of the SOUND UP festival, Sila Sveta presented a unique full-dome video projection, created exclusively for the event and the live performances of English composer Greg Haines and Russian composer Dmitry Evgrafov.
Swan Lake
As part of Moscow’s Circle of Light Festival, an annual event that invites artists to project light installations onto historic buildings across the city, Sila Sveta presented an interpretive, contemporary remake of Swan Lake, the classic ballet scored by Peter Tchaikovsky and most famously choreographed by Marius Petipa, on the façade of the Bolshoi Theater.
Prove that dance is a universal, versatile form of art, the projection mapped ballet – which included 3D motion effects and a remixed soundtrack – was performed in September 2015 to honor acclaimed Russian ballet dancer Maya Plisetskaya.
Hotel Ukraina
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Moscow’s Hotel Ukraina in 2017, Sila Sveta created a 3D projection mapped show on the façade of the legendary building – the last addition to the famous family of Stalinist high-rises known as the ‘Seven Sisters.’
One of the most significant buildings in the capital, housing one of its best hotels, it is also full of legends and mysteries. Sila Sveta studied the structure’s history and lore to create a dynamic light show, employing the latest technological achievements and using contemporary styles of abstract graphics.
House of music
In 2015, Sila Sveta was awarded a Mayor’s Grant to create a projection mapping spectacle within the walls of the Svetlanov Hall in the Moscow International Performing Arts Center inspired by the concept of space exploration, where astronomical bodies were used as metaphors for children as individuals.
Symbolizing children and their path to creative fulfilment, Sila Sveta envisioned little stars colliding with each other, exchanging their knowledge and creative ideas and giving impulse to new projects and inspiration. As this impulse accumulates energy and eventually explodes, the energy from the explosion shapes the new city.
For us, creative students are driving force for the development and building of the future city. When their energy unites, a great impulse for creating a prosperous city ignites.— Sila Sveta