Inside the Mobility pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is an immersive display that features giant, hyperrealistic statues of three key Arab figures in the history of exploration -- Al Bakri, Ibn Battuta and Ibn Majid.
Inside the Mobility pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is an immersive display that features giant, hyperrealistic statues of three key Arab figures in the history of exploration -- Al Bakri, Ibn Battuta and Ibn Majid.
Wētā Workshop
The statues would be over 50 feet tall if they were standing, but have to be sitting down to fit in the building.
The statues would be over 50 feet tall if they were standing, but have to be sitting down to fit in the building.
Wētā Workshop
The exhibit was built by New Zealand's Weta Workshop, a special effects firm that has worked on films such as "Blade Runner 2049," "Avatar," and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
The exhibit was built by New Zealand's Weta Workshop, a special effects firm that has worked on films such as "Blade Runner 2049," "Avatar," and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Wētā Workshop
About 20,000 individual holes had to be drilled into the faces to insert the beards. The eyes were made using high-definition 3D printers.
About 20,000 individual holes had to be drilled into the faces to insert the beards. The eyes were made using high-definition 3D printers.
Wētā Workshop
"One of the things that we love to specialize in here at the workshop is creating larger than life figures," said Richard Taylor, co-founder of Weta Workshop. "This is the largest scale that we've worked at to date ... a combination of traditional hand skill sculpting, digital modeling and 3D printing, utilizing molding and casting."
"One of the things that we love to specialize in here at the workshop is creating larger than life figures," said Richard Taylor, co-founder of Weta Workshop. "This is the largest scale that we've worked at to date ... a combination of traditional hand skill sculpting, digital modeling and 3D printing, utilizing molding and casting."
Wētā Workshop
Each piece of clothing is made of one-and-a half kilometers (1 mile) of fabric.
Each piece of clothing is made of one-and-a half kilometers (1 mile) of fabric.
Wētā Workshop
"We developed these characters in the form of giants to create a sense of awe and scale, so that as our audience travel around them, it almost becomes filmic in its monumental scale and its epic qualities," said Taylor.
"We developed these characters in the form of giants to create a sense of awe and scale, so that as our audience travel around them, it almost becomes filmic in its monumental scale and its epic qualities," said Taylor.
Wētā Workshop
As well as looking at the history of human mobility, the display pays tribute to modern advances such as space travel. Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public until the end of March 2022.
As well as looking at the history of human mobility, the display pays tribute to modern advances such as space travel. Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public until the end of March 2022.
Wētā Workshop