CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Art on the Mart kicked off its 5th year Friday night with a spring series.
Across the river from the Merchandise Mart, a scissor lift allowed workers to make sure that the windows of the projection room are spotless.
Art on the Mart VP of technology Michael Pritchett gave WBBM a behind-the- scenes tour as preparations were underway on the Riverwalk in the morning.
Pritchett showed the stacks of servers along with a few computer monitors, the back end of running Art on the Mart images through the 34 top of the line projectors used in covering the full 2.5 acre art deco façade of the Mart.
"This is where the action happens," he said.
Next door, a small ladder leads up to the actual projection room. All together, more than a million lumens are projected onto the building from a small projection room across the river.
Pritchett said that the artists themselves can spend about a year coming down and testing colors and movement on the Merchandise Mart façade in order to get it just right.
"We have to have the colors very saturated-almost a cartoonish view when you look at it in the computer, but when it projects on the building, it looks proper."
The spring season for Art on The Mart runs nightly through July 5 with a colorful project by artist Derrick Adams called Funtime Unicorn: Ruby Rides Through Four Seasons.
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