Expo 2020 Opening Ceremony

This prestigious event took place at the Al Wasl Dome in Dubai where over 100 performers, multiple live musical acts, 360° projection mapped content, augmented reality, incredible props, and pyrotechnics all came together to create a truly spectacular opening ceremony for Expo2020.

Working with long time friends and collaborators Bild Studios, dandelion + burdock were asked to design and create the augmented reality component that would bring an extra layer of magic to the live broadcast. The aim was to take elements of the projection content and bring it more to life by blurring the boundaries of where the projection ends and augmented reality (AR) begins.

These effects created an AR "volume" of content captured by camera's and all tracked in real-time, making it feel like the AR content was really in the dome.

Alongside the AR content dandelion + burdock were also asked to create a 360° projection mapped aurora borealis that needed to seamlessly integrate with an AR aurora. This moment of colourful magic was the perfect way to reveal the projection content for the first time on the dome.

All graphics were designed by dandelion + burdock and created by our in-house team where; particle effects, volumetric clouds, starfields and nebula, flocks of birds and butterflies, and even a waterfall were realised in real-time with the power of Unreal Engine.