Live Design: The Voletarium is the largest flying theatre of its kind in Europe. Launched in 2017, by Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, it is the largest investment in a single attraction in the park’s history. Europa-Park contracted Austrian company Kraftwerk Living Technologies to provide technical design, planning, and installation of the AV equipment.
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When I was 9, I went to Disney World, where I rode the virtual reality ride Soarin' at Epcot Center. Even though I had to wait a couple hours to get on the ride, I was blown away. A couple years ago, our annual music department trip was to Universal Studios. There I rode the integrated animatronic- virtual reality ride at Hogwarts Castle. Even as a 17 year old, I was terrified. The feeling of VR flying rides, with nothing under your feet and a screen so big you cannot see the edges is unmatched by any other theme park experience to date. The amount of media content and the engineering that goes into mapping that content on a curved surface is daunting. The sound engineering that goes into these rides is not just surround sound, but more. I am extremely interested in seeing where the future of virtual reality rides take us.
This article talks a ton about AV, but never specifically defines it. I think, from what I have figured out, it has to do with the syncing of audio and visual content. This kind of ride is not something that I have ever thought of as a type of theatre. This to me is more of an experience, but I have never been on one so I am not one to speak to that. The thing that stuck out the most to me was the idea of three dimensional sound. I think that being able to sculpt the sound in this ride to be directional based on the landscape or background on the screens would definitely add another layer of realism to the experience. Also, the projection mapping on a domes surface must have been insane to formulate. I would be really interested in seeing how the production team rigged their projection set up for "the ultimate viewing experience".
When I first read the title of this article, I pictured something similar to Howl’s Moving Castle, except a theatre that flies around from country to country putting on shows. Obviously that is very different from what is being described here, although this flying theater looks equally as exciting. I wish the article went a little more in-depth about specifically what technology was used and especially the creative processes that undoubtedly went on behind the scenes. From the photos in the slideshow it seemed like a mixture of an amusement park ride and an IMAX movie screen, which I can only imagine how intense of an experience that must be. But this new technology, along with all the other articles I’ve read recently about the confluences of technology in theater, opens up so many new avenues for creative expression. It’s amazing to me how theatre is one of the earliest human traditions and yet is still on the brink of all new technology and innovation to this day.
Thinking of a 'flying theater' gave me some hardcore Castle in the Sky vibes, but reading the article it isn't too far off from an experience somewhat like that. Given that we all know of 'Soarin' at Disney as a one of a kind attraction, finding out this is a huge thing in Europe was a bit shocking to me. I loved Soarin' and reading through this slideshow gave me so many incredible ideas. The use of technology to create a unique and almost completely 3D modeled and computer generated world offers so many new options for flying through places and times that don't even exist anymore, or never have at all! I would love to see a flying attraction going through, say, a sci-fi cloud city or spinning up and around a giant castle spire or navigating over mountains and seeing all the fantastical creatures that live there. I would love to try and make or see something even remotely like that, really taking the technology to a new level. One thing that frustrates me about when we have new technology like this is people overlooking or ignoring the more fantastical and whimsical possibilities that can come with it.
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