Alya Majed Alabdooli tells about Surreal, a water feature designed by the gentlemen who created The Dubai Fountain and music for “Game of Thrones.” The footage is from the Nov. 7 visit to Expo 2020.
DUBAI – The engineer behind The Dubai Fountain created one more masterpiece in Dubai.
This time, he teamed up with the composer of the “Game of Thrones” soundtrack who wrote music exclusively for the new fountain.
The result is “Surreal,” an experiential water feature at Expo 2020.
Surreal lives beside the Al Wasl Plaza dome at the center of the Expo.
Surreal was created by the Los Angeles-based engineer Mark Fuller.
Composer Ramin Djawadi created nine soundtracks at the same time as Surreal was being designed.
This way, the waterflow and the music in Surreal’s identity creatively influenced each other.
This probably never happened before.
Musical fountains are usually designed for existing music, and movie soundtracks are usually written when the video is ready. Surreal is one of a kind.
Surreal’s construction at the Expo site began even before the construction of the Al Wasl Plaza Dome.
Construction of the water feature took three years to complete.
The waterflow is made of water bubbles.
Mark Fuller and his team had to solve many practical concerns such as preventing algae.
We were told that after Expo 2020 ends, it will be up to the UAE government to decide whether to invest funds into maintaining Surreal beyond March 2022.
To preserve the structure, please remove your shoes if you would like to stand on the Fall.
Mark Fuller is credited to have said in 2015:
“I like making people feel more glad to be alive.”
About the author
Alya Majed Alabdooli is a student in the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University in Dubai where she specializes in Integrated Strategic Communication. Alya is a Dean’s List student. In her free time, Alya works on projects for radio.
The editor for this story was Yulia Medvedeva. The thumbnail image is supplied by Alya Ahmed.
