EDINBURGH
Calton Hill
Video Projection Mapping, 2022
/ Overview
In December 2022, the National Monument of Scotland on Calton Hill in Edinburgh became the monumental backdrop for a large video projection mapping intervention. The project, part of the Farnesina Digital Art Experience, brought together fifteen Italian digital art studios, including Luca Agnani Studio, transforming the monument’s neoclassical architecture into a story of light, culture and visual experimentation.
/ Project Details
Name: Farnesina Digital Art Experience @ Calton Hill
Client: Farnesina / Italian Cultural Institute Edinburgh
Location: National Monument of Scotland, Calton Hill, Edinburgh
Date: 2–4 December 2022
Technique: Architectural Projection Mapping
Artist: Luca Agnani Studio
/ Challenge
The project begins from a dialogue with a symbolic place in Edinburgh’s urban landscape: the National Monument of Scotland, built at the top of Calton Hill. The challenge was to transform a monumental and highly recognizable architecture into a scenic surface, while respecting the site and enhancing the dialogue between heritage, city and contemporary digital languages.
/ Visual Development
Digital art network
The project involved a selection of Italian studios specializing in digital art, video mapping and audiovisual experimentation, building a choral narrative on the monument facade.
Monumental projection
The columns and neoclassical proportions of the National Monument were used as a visual grid for luminous animations capable of emphasizing rhythm, depth and architectural presence.
Cultural diplomacy
The event brought Italian digital creativity into an international public space, transforming Calton Hill into a meeting point between art, architecture and cultural promotion.
/ Solution
The mapping transformed the National Monument of Scotland into a shared visual platform, where each digital intervention dialogued with the architectural form and Edinburgh’s night landscape. The luminous narrative brought together Italian identity, audiovisual research and the enhancement of urban heritage, creating an immersive and contemporary public experience.
/ Technique
Projection mapping
The monument surface was used as an architectural matrix for digital content calibrated to the columns, solids and voids of the structure.
Outdoor projection
The projection system was designed for a monumental outdoor context, with images visible on the profile of the National Monument and integrated with the environment of Calton Hill.
Visual sequencing
The succession of visual interventions created a dynamic flow, alternating languages, textures and architectural transformations in a coordinated composition.
/ Context
The event “Farnesina Digital Art Experience @ Calton Hill” took place in Edinburgh from 2 to 4 December 2022, with the National Monument of Scotland as the backdrop for the project. The initiative presented works created by fifteen prestigious Italian digital art studios, including Luca Agnani Studio, promoting the culture of light and digital art through the enhancement of architecture and urban space.