NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Animals at the Nashville Zoo are staying up past their bedtime to take part in the Night Visions light and sound show that begins when the sun goes down.
The family-friendly immersive experience runs Thursday through Sunday nights until July 17.
"It's like you just went through a weird dream-like walking through a dreamscape almost like a psychedelic movie, if you will? That you walk through and, you know, seeing the zoo re-imagined," said Ricardo Rivera, mastermind of Klip Collective Principal, creative director and owner.
His team of animators, music directors and other creatives spent months designing and executing a seven-part light show for the Zoo.
"It's a bit dreamlike," he said. "It's definitely, definitely very imaginative. We took kind of a different take on our work we added a lot of animals to the music to the sounds and to the content."
His company, Klip Collective, which is based in Philadelphia, creates the sensory experiences for all types of spaces but the Nashville Zoo is its first zoo.
"Mostly Botanical Gardens. We did Longwood Gardens in Chatsworth, Pennsylvania. The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, and they had very different vibes because they were different spaces. One was a desert vibe. Almost like a mid-Atlantic, North Atlantic, you know, curated garden... did a horse farm close by in Louisville, Kentucky, [too]," Rivera said.
He said his company designs each show from scratch.
"We 3D scan a lot of the things that we projection map. So we create a 3D model and then that content, we create content with that 3D modeling mind onto, these specific objects that we're projecting on and then we use that to then map the projections back onto it. So it doesn't get more site-specific than that," he said.
The Klip Collective team included both sounds and images of animals found at the Nashville Zoo.
"We cross-referenced the animals that were here and cross-reference that with nocturnal animals, and we came up with a certain set of heroes that we use throughout," Rivera said.
He said if he had to sum the show up in one word, he would say it is "wild."
"We're in a zoo, with weird sounds," said Rivera. "When people walk away from this, they obviously are going to take photographs and videos with their phones. And I love when people are like talking about it and they start bringing it up on their phone and then they say the magic words. ‘You have to go see it in person because this (pointing to phone) doesn't work.' And that means we did our job."
In addition to the Night Visions light show, visitors can venture into the zoo's Unseen New World exhibit, home to reptiles, amphibians, fish and more open between 8 and 9 p.m. on some nights.
DinoTrek and the Wild Animal Carousel are also open during Night Visions for free.
Adventure 4D Theater and Soaring Eagle Zip Line are available for an additional fee.
Various food, snack and adult beverage options are available for purchase through the Zoo during the event.
Tickets are available in advance online or at the gate upon arrival. Single night admission for Night Visions is $23 for adults and $19 for children ages 2-12.
To learn more and purchase tickets, visit the Nashville Zoo's website.
