Foresta Lumina

Moment Factory creates Foresta Lumina, an illuminated night trail in Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook inspirated by the legendary characters found in folk tales.

Wanting to attract a larger and more diverse group of evening visitors, the park’s team commissioned Moment Factory to create Foresta Lumina, an illuminated night trail through the forest.

As the foundation for the enchanted world they would design for visitors, Moment Factory’s creative team took inspiration from the legendary characters found in folk tales from Quebec and around the world.

After dark, visitors explore the park’s charms at their own pace, experiencing a scenography featuring lighting effects and video mapping accompanied by an original soundtrack. All along the 2 km “garden of wishes” trail – where visitors pick up a magical stone and make a wish on it as they toss it into the water at the “enchanted shore” – visitors will meet fascinating beings that lead them into a fully immersive adventure.

Most of today’s multimedia experiences are found in urban settings. In this case, Moment Factory faced the challenge of designing and building one in a natural setting. The team travelled to the site and soaked up the surroundings. The forest and its spaces, topography, detours and mysteries became the canvas for the experience. By adapting their work to the environment in the most natural way possible, and by concealing the technical apparatus, the creative team worked to ensure that visitors would see and hear nothing but magic.

Moment Factory, Foresta Lumina, Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook

Moment Factory created custom elements for each of the trail’s zones: perforated, backlit metal panels inscribed with descriptions of the main characters, small lighting units designed to suggest the presence of fairies in the forest, a transparent screen used for a subtle projection in a clearing, video mapping that brings a dead tree back to life.

The forest setting has no light pollution, making it possible to work with more finely calibrated lighting effects. The technical apparatus required for the experience needed to be solid and reliable for use summer after summer.

The creative team, with some 30 members, also made a point of drawing on local talent by working with a variety of artisans and suppliers based in the area.