During Art Basel Miami on December 5, 2023, shoe brand On and MoMA PS1 hosted their official Art Basel party — Night in Miami — at the SLS South Beach, an evening headlined by a live Eartheater performance, staged poolside. Ashley Systems delivered the complete technical production for the night: four 30,000-lumen projectors projection-mapping the ON × MoMA PS1 identity across the hotel pool itself, turning the water into the canvas the party gathered around, plus performance audio on d&b audiotechnik AL90 arrays with V-SUB and SL-SUB low end, lighting, staging, and power for Eartheater’s live set. Producing for MoMA PS1 means meeting art-institution standards — the visuals were installation work, not decoration — in an outdoor hospitality venue with ambient light, reflective water, and a hard event-night deadline. The evening was covered by design press (Surface Magazine), and it put the studio’s signature move on display: gallery-grade video engineering deployed in a live-event context, with the whole production carried by one vendor.
The Challenge
Projection-mapping a swimming pool is one of the harder surfaces in the discipline. Water moves, ripples, and reflects; the “screen” is horizontal while projectors must be rigged high and off-axis; and a South Beach hotel pool deck is saturated with ambient light the projection has to punch through. Around it, the event itself: an institutional client whose visual standards are museum-grade, a live experimental performance by Eartheater, a hospitality venue that stays operational until doors, and an Art Basel calendar that allows no slip. The mapping had to hold up close — guests stood at the water’s edge — and on camera.
The Solution
Pool projection mapping. Four 30,000-lumen projectors mapped the ON × MoMA PS1 logos across the SLS pool — geometry-corrected for the off-axis throw and tuned to read through ambient light on a moving, reflective surface, carrying the event identity on the water all night.
Full technical production. Ashley Systems carried the complete production alongside the visuals: performance audio on d&b audiotechnik AL90 arrays with V-SUB and SL-SUB low end, lighting, staging, and power for Eartheater’s live set and the evening’s program — one vendor for the whole night.
By the Numbers
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Date | December 5, 2023 — official On × MoMA PS1 Art Basel party |
| Client | MoMA PS1 × On |
| Venue | SLS South Beach, Miami |
| Headliner | Eartheater (live) |
| Capacity | ~950 |
| Projection | 4 × 30,000-lumen projectors mapping the hotel pool |
| PA | d&b audiotechnik AL90 + V-SUB + SL-SUB |
Result
The pool became the party’s centerpiece and its most photographed object — the ON × MoMA PS1 identity moving on the water all night, museum-grade video work running in a live hospitality environment, with press coverage in Surface. The project extended Ashley Systems’ NYC gallery and museum practice into event production territory: the same engineering that hangs video in an exhibition, deployed poolside for the official On × MoMA PS1 Art Basel party, with sound, lighting, staging, and power carried by the same team.
FAQs
Can you projection-map water, buildings, or unconventional surfaces?
Yes — projection mapping is a core Ashley Systems discipline, from architectural facades to interiors to water. Unconventional surfaces change the engineering: throw angles, surface movement, reflectivity, and ambient light all drive projector selection, rigging, and content prep. We mapped the SLS South Beach pool with four 30,000-lumen projectors for the official On × MoMA PS1 Art Basel party. Bring us the surface and we’ll tell you honestly what it takes to make it read.
Do you produce AV for museums, galleries, and art institutions?
Yes — art institutions are a core client base. We produce video installations, exhibition AV, and event production for galleries and museums in NYC and beyond, engineered to conservation-grade standards: correct color, silent operation where needed, and rigging that respects the space. Institutional credits include MoMA PS1’s official Art Basel Miami party.
Do you travel outside NYC for events?
Yes. Ashley Systems is based in Brooklyn and produces regularly in Miami, and has worked in Los Angeles, Paris, and Berlin. For destination events we handle logistics end to end — freight, local labor coordination, and advance — so the production arrives the way it would at home. Call (718) 218-5941 or email [email protected] with your date and city.