Yves Pépin


Yves Pépin is a creator of multimedia shows and large-scale events including the multi-awarded Eiffel Tower Millennium Show. In the course of his career, Pépin's projects have been ; an outstanding personal honor was received in 2006, when his peers in the Themed Entertainment Association, the international association for creators of compelling places and experiences, presented him with the prestigious TEA Thea Award for a Lifetime of Distinguished Achievements.

Early life

A native of Bordeaux, France, Pépin pursued a specialist music education up to age 16. He later took a French postgraduate degree in economics and politics, and also received a French government bursary to attend a two-year, full-time education program at the Center for Research and Arabic Studies in Beirut. He worked as a French radio presenter and producer between 1968 and 1970 in Lebanon, Morocco and Paris.
From 1970 to 1974, he was project manager and group manager at Orel, a communications company located in Paris.
In 1974, he founded, along with Yves Devraine and Thierry Arnaud, the design and production company ECA2.

Leading [ECA2]

Under his direction, the company designed the logos for Concorde and Air France, among others, and produced the first interactive visuals for the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre. After Yves Devraine and Thierry Arnaud departed the company, Pépin shifted its focus to the production of multimedia shows. In 1989 Pépin, a keen innovator, created and developed the process of Cinema on Water Screen, a system subsequently adopted by Disney and Universal Studios, among others.
Yves Pépin has built a worldwide reputation as a designer and producer of ground-breaking multimedia entertainments for one-off, semi-permanent and permanent performance, including major world broadcast events as the Football World Cup 98 Ceremonies, the Millennium fireworks celebration show at the Eiffel Tower in 2000, advising for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Ceremonies, and producing several World Expo Night Shows.

Today

Since 2008, Pépin has worked as an independent. In addition to his role as consultant for major companies and institutions, he is designing and directing multimedia shows, as for Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar and New Delhi ; and multimedia concerts such as "Lost in Space" with Jeff Mills and l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in 2018.

Body of work

He has conceived and staged one-off productions for a host of landmark events, including:

Events

Pépin has also been credited with playing a big part in the invention of the water projection screen, a specialized fountain nozzle that directs a large 'fan-spray' of water in the air, on which images from projectors and lasers can be displayed.

Awards