David Hockney's Bigger Christmas Trees
iPad app tooling and a bespoke export for building-scale projection
Client: David Hockney and Studio
Looking for the app? It was made for one artist and isn't for sale - but tell us if you'd want it.
Public release: Apple Newsroom article
In short
In December 2023, a pair of Christmas trees David Hockney drew on his iPad were projected a hundred metres high on Battersea Power Station, every evening until Christmas Day. Our part was one export: getting the drawing out of his app by layer, with transparency intact, so it could be rebuilt at that size.
Aerial footage of the projection at Battersea Power Station, as posted by Tim Cook in December 2023. Original post.
What happened
Bigger Christmas Trees ran every evening from 1 December to Christmas Day 2023, looping from 5.00pm to 10.30pm on the north watchtowers of Battersea Power Station - Apple's UK headquarters - at a height of around 100 metres. He drew the trees in November 2023 on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil. Projection design and technical delivery were by 59.
Bigger Christmas Trees on Battersea Power Station, 2023. © David Hockney.
Our part
The drawing existed inside Hockney Brushes, the app we built for him in 2018 and still look after for his studio. To put it on a building, 59 needed it out of the app at projection resolution, one layer at a time, with the transparency between layers preserved, so the trees could be reassembled and replayed at that scale. We added that export. The only design goal beyond "correct" was "simple": something the studio could run quickly and reliably, with nothing changed in the app he painted in.
David Hockney drawing Bigger Christmas Trees on his iPad, November 2023. © David Hockney. Photos: Jonathan Wilkinson.
Press
"It's an astonishing merging of technology and art. Not just in that it's a beautiful drawing, made on an iPad, but also that it's a wonderfully bright projection. At 100 metres high, it's a bright and grand tribute to the wonder of Hockney, Battersea Power Station (and the iPad), all in one."
— The Independent (★★★★★)
Apple's own write-up: Artist David Hockney brings Christmas cheer to Battersea Power Station.
Since
Apple has kept the Battersea Christmas projection going with other artists and collaborations. We weren't involved in the later ones, but it's been good to watch the idea grow.
Artwork rights: David Hockney artworks shown for documentation of Reflex Arc’s project history only, © David Hockney / the David Hockney Foundation. No licensing available via Reflex Arc.
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Interested in the app?
Hockney Brushes was built for one artist, to his specifications, and it isn't for sale. A lot of people arrive here looking for it, and we'd like to know how many. If it were ever released - the app itself, with the studio's agreement, or something of our own built on what we learned - would you want to hear about it? Leave your email and, if you like, a line about what you'd use it for. We'll use it for nothing else.
The full story of the app, and everywhere the work made with it has been shown: The iPad painting app we built for David Hockney.
