Known as the holy grail for dance music festival-goers, with a focus on bringing people together under the sound of music and art, Tomorrowland unveiled a new attraction at the 2022 festival: ‘The Stairway To Unity’. Whilst Tomorrowland is known for providing an expansive and eclectic space for art installations, water features, headline acts, and immersive experiences, it is this latest design divinity that has taken this year’s theme to create a unique whimsical space with a powerful message that becomes its most impressive set up yet.
Reflection of Love being the theme of Tomorrowland 2022 is an all-encompassing attribute to the innate need for the spread and sharing of positive energy throughout the masses. A worldwide reflection of love and light in amongst those who believe in the power of the mind, and the beauty of creativity.
This mind-blowing addition and much anticipated revelation of design boasts a total mosaic area of 700 square meters, with more than 5 million hand-cut mosaic stones baked and cut into unique mosaic tiles using traditional methods in a small village in Italy. These tiles were laid one by one by hand to create this mosaic masterpiece and represent the very essence of the festival itself – the strive for human connectivity in a post-pandemic future.
Since birth, Tomorrowland has astounded the People of Tomorrow through the approach to amplifying design, art & culture and this year’s rendition has been no exception. ‘The Stairway to Unity’ is a testament to the team behind the scenes. The project was a close collaboration with Parisian mosaic expert Jean-Christophe Duperron, Cuban artist Michel Herrera Cuello, and Italian company Mosaici Moruzzi, therefore making it an exquisite masterpiece brought about by experts in the mosaic art form.
“There are approximately 5 million pieces in this mosaic. It’s not as easy as taking a piece and placing it just like that. We first take a piece that we cut and adjust until we get the perfect little piece to fit in the mosaic. One person works on one piece, so 5 million pieces mean endless hours of work. Let’s say this project represents approximately 15,000 hours of work. – Jean-Christophe Duperron
“This project isn’t just a decorative project. The most important is not the beauty of the stairway but the message that it delivers: the path to save our planet begins with tolerance and a respectful dialogue between each other. – Michel Herrera Cuello
The stairwell will be De Schorre’s third permanent art installation. The ‘One World Bridge‘ was built by Arne Quinze in 2014, and Thomas Dambo’s ‘Magical Troll Forest‘ was completed in 2019.
Another element this year was the new focus on viral digital media. Locally designed, the Tomorrowland 2022 mainstage was 100% crafted in Belgium. Together, the team assembled a design that is 53 metres high and 270 metres wide, fitting 990 square metres of video tiles onto the various screens, making for an epic view at night as well as throughout the day. Aside from that, there are 1,273 lamps to ensure it sparkles brightly in the night sky, 61 lasers and 18 fountains for the water effects that are staples of any Tomorrowland mainstage design.
