At 9 pm on August 1, 2015, Louie Psihoyos and Travis Threlkel took over the Empire State Building’s facade, projecting colossal images of endangered species for over three hours in an attempt to ‘catalyze a movement to preserve the real treasure of our beautiful planet: its life.’

The arresting visuals were accompanied by music from the upcoming film, RACING EXTINCTION by Academy Award nominated composer J. Ralph. To accomplish the feat, the team used 40 stacked, 20,000-lumen projectors, displaying on a space that spanned 375 ft tall by 186 ft wide. The animal projections covered 33 floors of the southern face of the Empire State Building.

 

 

Director Louie Psihoyos and his team at the non-profit Oceanic Preservation Society were responsible for the Academy Award winning film, The Cove. Their latest film, Racing Extinction, assembles a team of artists and activists intent on showing the world never-before-seen images that expose issues of endangered species and mass extinction.

In addition to showcases at film festivals around the world, The Discovery Channel will premiere the film in more than 220 countries and territories on December 2 at 9PM ET/PT.

 

 

Projecting Change: the Empire State Building was produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society and Obscura Digital, in collaboration with Discovery Channel, Vulcan Productions, Photo Ark, the Li Ka-Shing Foundation and Empire State Building Trust.

 

 

You can see a full recap of the three-hour event in the embedded video below. For more information please visit:

– The Film: Racing Extinction
– Oceanic Preservation Society
– Obscura Digital
– New York Times: Illuminating the plight of endangered species, at the Empire State Building