New York Gets A Beautiful Glimpse Into the Northern Lights

First the very first time, New Yorkers get a taste of the beautiful Canadian North with their 3-day artistic attraction – Into the Northern Lights.

The North-American frozen north of Canada is truly a sight to behold with mountains and plains blanketed with pure white snow, majestic wildlife, icy lakes and rivers, and of course, the mesmerizing aurora borealis lights that naturally occurs in the night sky.

In effort to boost the tourism of Canada’s very home of the winter winds, Destination Canada has approached creative communications agency Praytell and Moment Factory to collaborate on Into the Northern Lights, a temporary 3-day multimedia installation to bring the beautiful northern lights to the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, New York.

Entering the main entrance of the terminal, New Yorkers are greeted with a mockup of the typical Canadian backwoods with snow, pine trees, and flowing rivers serving as the exhibit’s entrance and exit. Upon entering the large cubic structure, however, that is when the commuter’s day will become the highlight of their work week.

The exhibit itself is a cubic structure with LED screen covering all corners with the northern lights shining brightly. On the inside, the floor is stretched from corner to corner with one big LED screen that projects the aurora borealis towards the mirrored ceiling above the visitors’ heads, where they can observe above or below.

Into the Northern Lights is more than just a mirror and a big TV in a dark room. 3D sensors are scattered around the edges of the room that tracks the movement of visitors to the exhibit, which in turn also manipulates and changes the shape and structures of the northern lights with their movements.

A 360-degree audio system also plays a big part in the immersion factor of the exhibit, with the sounds of the cold north being played to simulate being in the wild and played in tandem with Northern Wind, piano, and traditional Inuit throat singing by Indigenous musical duo Tarniriik.

Additionally, Into the Northern Lights also fluctuates and rotates over the course of three sequences, that features its own unique color palette and interactive effects that visitors can share their unique experiences.

Tourism companies all over the globe always reuse the same formula of highlighting the country’s best features on a paper brochure, but none have made their tourist attractions speak for itself and allowing people to interact and play around with it!