← All workExperience

Duke of Tokyo: the bar that sings along.

2023

ClientThe Duke of Tokyo, Rotterdam
RoleLight design, build & show control
StackDMX · Artnet · pixel mapping · custom iPad app
StatusRunning nightly since 2023
Duke of Tokyo: the bar that sings along

Photo: Tatiana van Waveren

01The challenge

Thousands of pixels, dozens of booths, one bar.

Karaoke the way it's meant to be: intense, interactive, overwhelming: Japanese street culture dropped into Rotterdam. Every booth had to hand the controls to the guests inside it, while the venue still had to breathe as one organism. Technically complex, but for the person holding the microphone it had to feel like child's play.

02The build

An Artnet network does the heavy data-lifting across thousands of pixels. On top sits a custom iPad interface, behind the bar for show control and in every booth: pick your song and the whole room colours along. Out on the floor, the show builds as the evening does.

Artnet/DMX pixel distribution network
Custom iPad interface in every booth, simple enough for a guest three drinks in
Booth lighting that reacts to the song choice
One show-control brain for the entire bar
Thousands of individually mapped pixels across the venue
An install that survives real nightlife
Karaoke booth with octopus mural, lit in pink and cyan
Photo: Alex Pander
The bar's stage under layers of neon signage and lanterns
03The outcome

The guests run the show.

An award-winning experience where every booth directs its own party. The system has run night after night since opening, despite all the complexity under the hood.

1000spixels, mapped as one
Dozensof guest-controlled booths
1bar breathing as one organism
0missed beats since opening night

Let's talk.

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