Moment Of Magic: North Forest enchants with new installation

How do you make the soul of nature visible? How you make it audible? How can technology be used to amplify connections with the natural world rather than detract from it?

These are just some of the questions the design team at Moment Factory were considering for their first outdoor art exhibit. In partnership with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, the Montreal-based multimedia and entertainment studio produced an imaginative new project that is a novel creation for both institutions.

The North Forest Lights is a nighttime group of artistic light and sound installations unlike anything the museum has ever hosted or developed. Five distinct installations were designed specifically for the forest space in a unique activation that Moment Factory creative director, Marie Belzil, says allowed her team to push their craft in a way they haven't had the opportunity to before.

"It's special because Crystal Bridges has three main orientations: art, nature and education," Belzil shares. "And on our side at Moment Factory, we've been working a lot at creating experiences of entertainment in the nature. So here, coming at the museum, it's an opportunity for us like never before to be presented as artists -- to really modify the process and explore what is our identity as a multimedia studio."

After connecting with the museum to initiate the collaboration, the installation began to take shape after many visits to the site to discover what the space could become.

"It was all about developing this idea of the digital bonfire -- a place that we invite people to connect and to share positive vibes, adding to that the layer of making what we believe," Belzil muses. "Because we've been passing so much time in nature, we believe that nature has a soul. This was also an opportunity to talk about that.

"That's the first thing we knew, for sure," she goes on. "But then it really all started from site visits -- walking the path many times, feeling the vibe of the different places, looking at this natural scenography. Basically, the nature became our canvas."

What emerged is a family-friendly light and sound spectacular that asks the viewer to slow down and really take in or engage with the nature around him. The nightly experience begins from the moment one approaches the ticket booth. Since the installation is activated outside regular museum hours, guests use the east entrance to the forest -- on the trail near the Scott Family Amazeum and the east parking lot -- rather than the forest's more prominent access point on the north side of the museum.

Stepping onto the trail, guests are enveloped in a cozy darkness -- but not overwhelming, the paths are lighted -- as they enter the forest. Colored lights illuminate a tree or sign here and there and a meditative soundtrack of rich, ethereal music greets your ears well before you reach the loop where the installations reside. This introductory walk takes several minutes and establishes a reverential and introspective mood for the experiences ahead.

"We worked very hard with the lighting designers and with the sound designers to create environments that are, once you're in [it], you're not hearing the other environments, you're not feeling the other environments," explains Moment Factory producer Mathieu Granger. "They're very immersive; we're super proud of that. So you're able to take a quick gander around and see sort of what you can expect, but we really put a lot of emphasis on creating that immersion once you're in the experience."

That sense of engagement is further facilitated by the Crystal Bridges staff stationed throughout the roughly one-mile trail. These guides provide a brief introduction to each piece, gently offering a suggested approach to interacting with the work.

"What we like about working with nature is that it evolves, it transforms," Belzil says. "And every night it'll be a little bit different depending on the humidity in the air, depending on if there is rain or not, depending on the amount of leaves. So, for me, it's something I find so interesting how each piece of art is actually kind of alive somehow, because it's slightly different every day."

"That concept of the digital campfire is something that permeates every project that Moment Factory does. It's all about bringing people together," Granger adds. "Our other slogan is, 'We Do It In Public.' The idea is getting people together in this natural environment, and knowing that they'll live an event and leave with various different versions of what they've lived through emotion and their connection with it."

"Just lighting up a candle in the woods, there's something special, you know?" Belzil says, turning back to the concept of blending the manmade with the natural. "Because the woods are a dark place at night and humans have always developed stories about that. So, bringing light into it is already a context that creates a thrill to the human experience. It's special."

NAN What's Up on 12/08/2019