Leo Warner

Background

About Leo Warner

Leo is the founder and director of 59 Productions. Since its inception Leo has conceived and led many of the company's flagship projects. Starting his career as a graphic designer, and with a degree in English Literature, Leo's driving interest is in telling compelling stories. He established the company in Scotland, first specialising in video and projection design for theatre, earning 59 the accolade of being 'the finest purveyors of video for theatre in the world'(The Herald). Collaborating with director Katie Mitchell across Europe he pioneered methods of 'live film-making', creating a number of award-winning projects that The Guardian labeled 'an entirely new art form'. In 2012 he led the the 59 video design team on the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, working with Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle on 'the greatest show on earth'. Boyle and Warner have continued to work together, including on Boyle's T2 Trainspotting. In 2014 he led the 59 team on the company's first architectural projection-mapping artwork on the vast iconic 'sails' of Sydney Opera House. The piece established a new interest in combining projection design and storytelling with architecture. Subsequent projects created to transform iconic buildings around the world have provided opportunities to use Hampton Court Palace, the UN headquarters and Castle Rock in Edinburgh as vast, spatial canvasses. Leo directed 59's first self-produced pieces of theatre:'Paul Auster's City of Glass' in 2017, and 'Invisible Cities' in 2019 (a co-production with Manchester International Festival). He has also directed several spectacular public artworks for celebrations, ceremonies and events across the world, including Sting’s soldout residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Alongside leading select projects, and after several years as Creative Director, Leo re-assumed the CEO role in 2022, overseeing and steering both the creative work of the studio, and the strategic and operational oversight of the executive.