Poland - Projection Artworks has completed Poland: First to Fight, an ambitious outdoor live immersive experience to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II at Museum 1939, Gdansk.
The Projection Artworks team scripted, storyboarded, choreographed and produced Poland: First to Fight in collaboration with Museum 1939. The Museum’s dynamic external architecture is transformed into a skyline canvas, creating a 20-minute live sensory experience that integrates archive footage, animation, projection mapping, live action, music performance, narration and sound effects to tell the heroic story of Poland’s journey through the war. An interpretive dance is woven through the show, with dancers and actors interacting with the projection, choreographed by dance and theatre artist Rhiannon Faith.
Museum 1939’s façades are manipulated using 3D mapping illusions, with their surfaces becoming flexible parts of the show. Other surfaces are also projection-mapped, creating slow-animated bas-reliefs to fuse the physical with the digital.
Notch, the real-time VFX engine, was used to enhance the pre-rendered show and extend the creative tools available to Projection Artworks. This was achieved through image magnification of the live camera feeds of actors on stage, by treating them with stylised effects such as double exposure to filmic grain & camera reel effects to match the historic archive footage.
Creative director Gavin McArthur comments, “World War II represents a significant era in Poland’s history and it was of the utmost importanc

Belarus - Thousands of lighting fixtures and LED devices supported the Bright Year, Bright You theme of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2019 Second European Games earlier this summer. Dinamo National Stadium in Minsk, Belarus was aglow with the glittering pageantry, and a network of High End Systems Hog lighting consoles controlled it all.
The main lighting control system was comprised of two Hog 4-18 flagship consoles plus two Full Boar 4 consoles, all networked in a multi-programmer setup, outputting data via five DMX Processor 8000 units. A near identical backup system was also on standby.
The physical set featured eight stages. In addition to the more than 1,000 moving head fixtures, Hog consoles controlled all the LED pieces, including the set decorations, the interactive audience bracelets and pixel tubes. Because of the massive amount of pixel mapping required, Hog connected with the Madrix LED control as the interface to trigger the LED devices.
The ceremonies captivated the crowds and worldwide broadcast audience with the story of Belarus - from folklore to the future. Lighting designer Evgeniy Toma of the Sechenov agency and Russian company Art City 5 were in charge of the production, whose planning spanned more than a year.
For this large-scale stadium event, the LD insisted on using the Hog line of consoles. As a longtime Hog user, Toma wanted a flexible, powerful and reliable control system plus the speed of programming he counts on for this complex show.
Russian distributor SiM, together with ETC’s local

UK - Lighting console manufacturer ChamSys is opening new headquarters in Southampton’s Brooklands Courtyard.
The facility features a multi-line manufacturing centre, which will enable the company to build its MagicQ Stadium and MagicQ Compact consoles simultaneously. Also inside are storage and dispatch warehousing area, R&D facilities, service department and customer training area along with a dedicated repair centre, two training rooms, and a pre-visualisation suite for visiting programmers.
Chamsys, which is celebrating 15 years in business this year, is officially opening the new HQ with an event on 2 September - contact the company on openhouse@chamsys.co.uk for details on how to attend.
“The new headquarters reflects our dedication to maintaining the highest quality standards as we grow,” comments Chris Kennedy, managing director of ChamSys. “We’re extremely happy with how our new facility will enable us to accelerate our product development whilst maintaining our high product quality and software excellence. ChamSys is committed to providing the best value and service to the customer.”
(Jim Evans)

UK - Ambersphere Solutions has announced that Rob Beamer has joined the company as key account manager. Based in Liverpool, he will be representing the Ambersphere portfolio in the North of England.
Beamer has worked in theatre for 14 years before moving into sales 11 years ago, working for Stage Electrics and Sound Technology. He will make his Ambersphere exhibition debut at the upcoming PLASA Show (15-17 September, London Olympia).
“This is a new role created for Rob and will allow us to offer our northern clients a more attentive and personalised service,” says sales director Philip Norfolk. “Rob is professional, knowledgeable, calm and friendly, precisely what our clients appreciate. The whole Ambersphere team is delighted to have someone as exceptionally capable and good fun to join us”.
“I am really excited to have joined Ambersphere. It’s such a perfect fit for me,” Beamer comments. “Ambersphere is a service orientated lighting company who only offer the best products.”
(Jim Evans)

USA - Vari-Lite has announced the VL800 Series of fixed and moving head LED fixtures. These cost-effective event fixtures bring a feature set specifically for mid-sized tours, productions, and entertainment lighting installations.
“Our goal with the VL800 Series was to introduce event fixtures that have been built with the DNA of Vari-Lite,” says Martin Palmer, senior product manager, Vari-Lite and Strand Luminaires at Signify. “This means that the fixtures look, move, and feel the way you would expect from us, but with a cost and feature set that fits installations and smaller rental applications. Our customers trust the Vari-Lite brand and the pre- and post-sale support behind it, and we’re committed to delivering on that promise.”
The new VL800 Series includes three new fixtures which have been designed to work together. The fixtures have been colour-matched so they are visually consistent, and the user experience and DMX mapping are consistent as well. This allows lighting designers and programmers to easily use multiple fixtures together in a single application.
Vari-Lite VL800 Propar is an advanced, high output LED event PAR fixture that includes a quiet running motorised zoom. The fixture offers full RGBW colour mixing and has gel-matched colour presets to deliver the same visual results customers are accustomed to, with multi-mode fan control for use in quiet environments.
Vari-Lite VL800 Eventpar is an LED retro-style event PAR perfect for a modern replacement of classic tungsten PAR fixtures. Designed to bring back the vi

UK - The Olivier and Tony award-nominated Blues In The Night has undergone its first revival in 30 years at London’s Kiln Theatre.
Running until 7 September, and originally conceived by Sheldon Epps, Robert Jones’ hotel-based set design, steeped in Chicago 1930’s depression, is brought to life by eminent lighting designer, Neil Austin, with the aid of purpose-selected LED tools from GLP, with whom he has collaborated frequently in the past.
It was Austin who had initially suggested the more theatre-friendly variant of GLP’s popular X4 Bars, proposing an RGBY batten that would deliver warmer tones, which is now available as a custom option in the GLP catalogue. Austin himself has been using quantities of these fixtures on an internationally renowned production currently being produced around the globe.
It had been Rob Jones who was responsible for getting the Tony and Olivier Award-winning LD involved in this latest production. “We had been trying to work together for the last 17 years, and when he called up about Blues In The Night, the fact that this was the first real juke box music compilation from a great era of songs was the clincher, as was the chance to work with [the show’s star] Sharon D Clarke. It’s fragmented imaging of the late 30s in a run-down hotel, with three women and a man, all interacting, and telling their stories. It’s a lovely set of songs and a lovely set too.”
But the Kiln Theatre (previously the Tricycle) is a small theatre, and although it was substantially refurbished during its metam

USA - Six-piece band Fitz and the Tantrums are currently touring with Young the Giant. Lighting design is by Jeremy Lechterman and his team at FragmentNine.
Working with co-designer Jackson Gallagher from FragmentNine, and associate designer Mike Hankowksy from Hemlock Design & Technology, Lechterman uses a collection of 28 Chauvet Professional COLORado Solo Batten fixtures supplied by LMG.
The bright RGBAW linear fixtures are arranged in two layers of semi circles behind the band and in vertical stacks between video panels. From these positions, they backlight the performers, separating them from the upstage area. This seems to bring the band closer to the audience. At the same time, the straightforward geometric configuration of the bright, colourful battens draws the crowd’s attention to the stage bringing them closer to the band.
“Our client’s music spans the gamut of many genres. However, if you look at the branding and the visual language that accompanies their digital presences, it’s all grounded in these simple neon hand drawn shapes,” says Lechterman. “We dug into that aesthetic quite a bit during the design process. This is reflected in the video content, and in the way we used the COLORado Solo Battens.”
Drawing on the intensity of the batten fixtures and their seamless end-to-end colour mixing, the FragmentNine design team has them create old school neon looks, evoking an engaging sense of intimacy on stage. “The battens are used like super bright neon, backlighting the artists, and projecting fun colours and

Mexico - Emmanuel and Mijares, two leading figures in Latin pop, are delighting audiences across Mexico, Central America and the US by performing their popular ballads and pop songs beneath a large rig of Elation Professional fixtures, with lighting design by Hector Valencia and Axel Rebollo.
The Mexican singers’ career that spans over 35 years with millions of records sold and multiple national and international accolades to their credit. As friends, they joined together to create a show of their all-time greatest hits, Two’r Amigos, a performance that has now been touring for almost six years, breaking several attendance records along the way.
The show has been evolving since 2013 with musical arrangements and set lists changing, as well as the stage, video and lighting design. The show has been re-designed four times and this year returned to Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, with a completely new look. Having played at the venue more than 50 times over the years, most of them sold out, it was no surprise that the duo captivated the audience, with more than 10,000 fans singing along to their favourite ballads.
“We decided to include Elation fixtures due to the wide range of products they offer and the service provided by the company,” comments Axel Rebollo. “The output, colour and gobos of Elation moving heads have become my favourites for the show.”
The rig consists of a variety of fixture types including 40 Platinum FLX hybrid moving heads, 24 ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panels, 18 Protron 3K Color strobes, 20 SixB

UK - White Light has returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it is supplying the lighting and rigging equipment for all of the Gilded Balloon venues for the sixth year running.
WL’s customer service key account manager Dan Last comments: “We work closely with Gilded Balloon across their five buildings: Teviot (nine spaces), The Museum (auditorium space), Old Tolbooth Market (three spaces), Rose Theatre (three spaces) and the newly-acquired Patter Hoose (five spaces). Our role is to supply the lighting and rigging solutions in each of these, ensuring that they are well-equipped and able to host a range of performances throughout the Festival.”
Prior to the Fringe, Last and the WL team work closely with Gilded Balloon to decide on the equipment that will be used in each space. “We initially work with Karen and Katy Koren who each run Gilded Balloon, which is one of the only ‘Big Four’ producers who are Scottish based and operated,” says Last. “As we move closer to the festival, we then liaise with production manager Meredith Rehburg and technical manager Simon Cook to finalise the specific technical requirements.”
This year saw the Gilded Balloon take on a new venue - Patter Hoose. Unlike the other spaces which were utilised at previous festivals, the producers had to create the technical set-up completely from scratch. Last explains: “With Patter Hoose, we were asked to go up in January to see the space, which at that time was essentially four blank rooms and one lecture theatre. We were shown round the different spaces

UK - MDG has partnered with Arcadia Spectacular for this year’s Glastonbury Festival by supplying two of its Me8 fog machines for Arcadia’s new creation, Pangea.
Named after the Paleozoic-era supercontinent that broke apart to form the seven continents we know today, the Pangea installation replaces Arcadia’s Spider, a prominent fixture at Glastonbury for the past decade. The installation also marks one of the first major installations for MDG’s Me8 fog generator.
“As the first year of a five-year permanent installation, we were able to 'go to town’'with Pangea on a totally different scale from a touring show,” says Arcadia’s head of communications, Cyrus Bozorgmehr. “We wanted to explore possibilities with more scope for upward expansion into three-dimensional space, and investigate how to take over the area above people’s heads to make a fully immersible experience across the whole arena.”
To achieve this, a multi-level central structure was designed and sourced from repurposed scrap material gleaned from a worldwide search. The centrepiece is a giant 50m dock crane from nearby Avonmouth Docks, rigged with lighting and pyrotechnics, the machine house of which serves as an operational space for control equipment. The crane is set upon a spherical ex-military ‘radome’ which is used as a projection surface and sited above a mesh-floored DJ booth on a 360° rotating table above the audience that gives fully immersive directionality across the whole site.
“We have different visuals on each level with an int

Europe - eLumen8 has released a new fixture - the the MP180 LED Fresnel RGBALC, part of the company’s MP series.
With 180W LED source and smooth colour mixing, this luminaire is designed for short to medium throw applications, including use in theatres and studios. It can produce an even field of light thanks to an adjustable 13°- 46° beam angle, while the addition of amber, lime and cyan within the COB LED source makes for “perfect colour on any scene or subject, giving this fixture the edge over Fresnels with only quad-colour LEDs” according to eLumen8.
Andrew Jeffrey, Prolight Concepts Group MD, comments: "Since the inception of this series, the units have proved to be amazingly popular for many applications and this new addition with higher power and six colours will further expand the market for this series."
As with most others in the series, the MP180 Fresnel style fixture benefits from RDM, temperature-controlled fan cooling for quiet operation, and a four-push button display allowing users to select DMX and manual dimming modes along with dimming curves. A filter frame and barn door are included as standard and the fixture comes backed up with the eLumen8 two-year warranty.
(Jim Evans)

USA - Delicate Productions of Camarillo, California has taken delivery of a large stock of Ayrton Khamsin LED profile luminaires.
“The Khamsins are our first Ayrton fixtures,” says Joe DiCarlo, director of operations at Delicate Productions. The investment came after an enquiry by the lighting director of rock band, Tool. “Lighting director, Mark ‘Junior’ Jacobson, a long-time client of ours for concert tours, was looking for an LED source profile fixture for the anticipated Tool tour. That started us on the path of exploring these types of fixtures.
“Multiple manufacturers sent us demo units and we staged a shoot-out, with Brad Nelms at ACT Lighting supplying the Khamsin fixtures.”
Khamsin stood out from the other fixtures for a number of reasons according to DiCarlo and Angelo Viacava, lighting operations at Delicate Productions. “Khamsin promised the most lumens on paper and didn’t disappoint, as it was the brightest of all of the fixtures we had for the shootout,” says Viacava. “It was able to cut through the brightness of a video wall with ease. A Tool show is normally very video heavy, and the Khamsins’ output was sure to rival the video wall’s intensity.”
He also liked Khamsin’s zoom range. “It goes from a very large wide beam to a narrow beam very rapidly,” he reports, “and its speed really got my attention. Khamsin is good for quick snaps amongst the colour wheels and gobo wheels. The gobo morphing in this fixture is exceptional.”
DiCarlo views Khamsin as a ‘very versatile fixture’ th

USA - When the Events United team first saw the venue for the Warrior Conference in Waterville Valley, NH, they knew they had to push their design to the next level. The low, sloping ceiling of the Waterville Valley Ice Arena, where the event took place this May, is anything but conducive to creating the kind of dynamic lighting displays that were needed to reflect the spirit of this popular men’s conference. Compounding the task was the arena’s strict prohibition on rigging from the roof, which made the task of getting the adequate trim height for potential lighting even more daunting.
The team met this challenge by building their lighting rig from the ground up. Helping them was a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures and LED video panels.
“Supporting all the lighting from the floor limited how much gear we could send up and how high we could go,” says Tim Messina, owner of Events United. “We needed to choose fixtures that were lightweight, yet powerful for our ground-up rig. We also wanted ones with a low profile, combined with beam angles that could give us the coverage we needed.
“Ryan Lane, our lead lighting designer, and I chose Chauvet lights to give us the look we were striving for while being very bright. Working them in concert with our PVP X6IP video tiles allowed us to create something eye-catching and exciting, despite the obstacles we faced.”
Anchoring the lighting rig were eight Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures. The team hung the RGBW LED movers on the downstage truss across the width of the stage
While

UK - Singer-songwriter and musician Howard Jones is back on the road celebrating 35 years since his Human Lib hit album, complete with a striking lighting design by Yenz Nyholm from New Illumination Lighting Design.
The moving lights include 12 x Robe MegaPointes, and 26 x LEDBeam 150s which were supplied in the UK and Europe by rental company Siyan.
Jones is considered one of the defining figures of the mid-1980s UK synth-pop genre and he has generations of loyal and new fans who enjoy seeing him live.
Yenz collaborated with Howard and his producer Stephen Tayler on the production design and look of the show, and the brief was to create something off-beat and interesting. The artist also wanted it to look and feel contemporary in an electronic / robotic way. He wanted an aspect of video in the production but stipulated that this should be part of the band rather than overpowering or a distraction to the music.
Yenz and Stephen created a stage set with an 8 x 3m transparent screen, which shows a variety of content throughout the performance.
One rear truss has the screen hung below it, and there is a black silk backdrop upstage of this.
Eight of the MegaPointes are rigged on this back truss, with the other four hidden behind the screen on the floor just in front of the backdrop.
The top ones are used for back lighting, gobo looks and animations onto the back as well as for some aerial interaction into the crowd. The deck-based fixtures behind the screen create powerful moody beams and silhouettes throughout the show.

Bahrain - Event design, technical and scenic production specialist Maestra Group has opened a base in Bahrain and announced a new partnership with the Ritz-Carlton resort and its 43,000sq.ft conference and exhibition facility.
As the resort’s exclusive event partner, Maestra will oversee all technical aspects of the new Arena facility, which offers a full set-up and capacity for large banquet receptions and global conferences.
Maestra’s Tom Clements comments: “We are extremely excited about this new venture and to be involved in such a high profile and incredibly well-designed event space. For Maestra Group, this is a logical expansion of our work in Dubai, and it will also be the first step in some strategic expansion plans for Maestra Group in the Middle East.”
“As Bahrain becomes a global destination for premiere conferences and events in the region, it’s our pleasure to partner with Maestra and unveil a new conference facility complemented with our signature Ritz-Carlton brand service we’re known for globally,” says Bernard de Villèle, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. “With modern interiors and high-tech capabilities, The Arena stands to be one of the sought-after venues in the region and a perfect addition to the resorts already existing portfolio.”
The new venue is designed to host all types and styles of gatherings and events, including conferences, trade shows, car launches, seminars, music concerts, exhibitions and more.
Maestra Bahrain will include a core project management and technical team

UK - The ALD has launched the ALD Awards for Excellence, a scheme aimed at students and recent graduates that replaces the annual Michael Northern Awards.
The ALD says the new format “better reflects” the association’s growing representation and introduces a restructured prize fund, with three categories instead of four.
Rory Beaton, head of the ALD’s Working Group for Awards, comments: “The awards have grown in stature and, like most things, need a firm foundation from which to grow further. With the consolidation of naming and prize structure, The ALD Awards for Excellence have a strong and flexible framework to shape them for the future.”
The awards are now open for submissions to current students studying in the UK, recent graduates (2017-present), or to corresponding affiliate members of the ALD. The deadline is set for midnight on 31 October and the winners will be announced during the ALD’s annual Lighting Lunch in December.
The categories are as follows:
The Michael Northen Award for Excellence in Lighting Design (sponsored by the Mousetrap Foundation) - £500 cash prize, a 512 ETCnomad package, a six-month mentoring scheme with a team of industry professionals to run alongside the initial stage of their career, a copy of Michael Northen’s book, Northen Lights.
The Fred Foster Award for Excellence in Production Electrics (sponsored by ETC) - £500 cash prize, a 512 ETCnomad package, a on

USA - Debuting on the Acoustic Sage at Glastonbury, the Maverick MK3 Spot from Chauvet Professional created such an impression on at least one visiting LD that he thought it was a 1700W arc lamp fixture when he first saw it. Such is the brightness of this 820W moving LED fixture with a 51,000-lumen source.
However, the new spot fixture is more than just a potent light cannon. Aside from packing enough punch to rock even the largest arena, the Maverick MK3 Spot is also loaded with features that make it right at home in a variety of applications, from major events to broadcast projects, says the company.
“We designed this tool to be as versatile as it is powerful,” says Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “Our goal in developing this product was to create an extremely bright and intense fixture that was also flexible enough to meet multiple needs for designers and rental houses.”
In keeping with this design philosophy, the Maverick MK3 Spot puts a wide palette of colours at designers’ fingertips thanks to it s CMY + CTO colour mixing and colour wheel.
The precision designed fixtures also features a fast 9:1 zoom ratio that maintains a flat field of focus even when fully wide.
The versatile Maverick MK3 Spot offers a variety of control options including flexible DMX, sACN, Art-Net or W-DMX.
(Jim Evans)

UAE - The Protec Group’s Dubai branch has started investing in Robe moving lights, including BMFLs, Pointes, MegaPointes, Spikies and RoboSpot systems.
The purchases have been spearheaded by Protec’s head of lighting, Aaron Russ.
The company delivers full technical production solutions across entertainment, leisure and commercial sectors - from corporate presentations to music festivals - throughout the UAE, Middle East and UK / Europe.
Russ explains that it was a case of the right product at the right time with Robe. Obviously, they had other moving lights in stock up until this point, but the first batch of 96 Pointes were sourced to replace a competitor beam light product, together with 48 Spikies on the same order.
Then in 2018, for opening ceremony of the Qiddiya Theme Park in Riyadh, KSA with a design by US-based LD John Featherstone of Lightswitch, they needed a powerful wash light and purchased 24 BMFL XF Washes with the barn door module. “Every design we receive from John specifies a lot of Robe,” comments Russ.
Also delivered by Robe Middle East with this second batch of luminaires were another 24 Pointes and 12 MegaPointes.
The next purchase was two RoboSpot base stations with two BMFL Blades luminaires and separate motions cameras specifically to be used as remote-controlled follow spots.
Russ cites the opening and closing ceremonies of the Presidents Cup Football in the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain as a good example, where he positioned 24 BMFLs on one of the balcony handrails at the top of the seating

USA - Summer may be winding down but Bandit Lites production schedule is still packed with tours, festivals and events. Due to the immense demand, the global lighting company has made another sizeable investment in Claypaky gear including the new Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 from ACT.
The Claypaky Scenius Unico can be utilised as both a spotlight for projecting effects and a wash light and features six rotating gobos, a rotating prism and an animation wheel. It also shoots a powerful narrow beam of hyper concentrated light. Bandit Lites supplied Scenius Unico fixtures for Nick Whitehouse’s design for Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty Tour 360.
“The Claypaky Unico offers designers a complete array of parameters from a high output spot fixture,” says Jake Tickle, Bandit Lites director of technology and service department. “It is truly a workhorse.”
Bandit Lites also made a sizable purchase of Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures. Whitehouse made use of them in both Carrie Underwood’s production and Jason Aldean’s Ride All Night Tour and they could also be seen at the Hangout Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Firefly Music and Arts Festival, and Chris Lisle’s design for Peter Frampton’s final tour.
“The Mythos continues to impress and has become a staple part of many designs that we are presented with,” concludes Tickle.
(Jim Evans)

USA - Matthieu Larivée with Lüz Studio in Montréal serves as production and lighting designer on the current tour of American rock band The Raconteurs and uses Upstaging-supplied Elation DARTZ 360 LED moving heads to complement the group’s guitar-driven sound. Formed in 2006 by Jack White of The White Stripes and Brendan Benson, The Raconteurs recently emerged from a 10-year hiatus with launch of a new album Help Us Stranger.
White, known as a dedicated yet somewhat unconventional artist, is widely credited as one of the key players in the garage rock revival of the 2000s. “He is completely focused on the music and performance and wants to keep the audience very focused as well,” explains Larivée, who also worked on Jack White’s most recent solo tour. “He wants to make sure the audience is getting a good experience so there are no cell phones allowed during the show (phones are collected at the door by a company called Yondr). There is also no set list. It’s really driven by Jack. If he feels the crowd is not reacting well he will switch songs or even switch instruments mid song if it suits him.”
Larivée says the danger in not knowing what the band is going to play could have a lighting op punting every song. That would make for a random look that the designer says he wanted to avoid. Working with lighting director Michelle Sarrat (2019 Parnelli lighting director of the Year), who was also with Larivée on Jack White’s solo tour, about 30 songs from their catalogue were programmed with the flexibility to make changes and additi

Costa Rica - Obsidian Control Systems has appointed Luces y Sistemas as its exclusive distributor in Costa Rica. Under the terms of the agreement, Luces y Sistemas will provide full support for the entire Obsidian line of hardware and software lighting control solutions.
To introduce the brand to its customers, the San Jose-based company is holding a two-day Onyx training event on 20-21 August at its facility in Tibas, providing a basic and advanced look at hardware and software. Those interested in attending should contact info@lucesysistemas.com for more information.
“Our goal is to provide our regional market with a diverse range of popular control and programming products under the DMX protocol, a project that we have been working on for years,” comments Luis Ricardo Sanchéz, president of Luces y Sistemas. “The decision to support our clients by distributing Obsidian Control Systems allows us to fulfil that goal.”
“The opportunities that we provide to our clients are a reflection and consequence of the win-win relationship between supplier, local distributor and end user,” Sanchéz says. “Not only do we provide knowledge and training, adequate technical support and availability of parts, we provide facilities so that our users can ascend to better, newer and more sophisticated controllers.”
“Obsidian controllers are already recognised by lighting system programmers as an extremely friendly and easy-to-use tool with a very high level of reliability,” says Luces y Sistemas general manager Carlos Vargas, who work

Lithuania - The Sakiai Culture House is an institution dedicated to preserving the rich and unique heritage of Lithuania.
Located in the southwestern region of the country, Sakiai Culture House pays homage to the revolving tapestry of Lithuanian music and theatrical productions, which have helped earn the country recognition by UNESCO as an “Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. Bringing this tradition to life is a new lighting system designed and installed by Scenos Techninis Servisas (STS) of Vilnius, Lithuania, that features a collection of Chauvet Professional LED fixtures.
Installed as part of a comprehensive renovation of the 60 year-old building, the new system features six Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidal fixtures, four Ovation B-195FC batten units, 10 Maverick MK2 Spots and 15 Maverick MK2 Washes. In addition to delivering even key lighting, the new system opens up a range of creative options for designers thanks its high output moving fixtures.
To support the rich and varied entertainment program taking place at the Sakiai Cultural House, which ranges from classic theatrical productions to live folk and rock music concerts, multi functionality and versatility were key objectives of the renovation project. This is very evident in the venue’s retractable stage, which can change heights to accommodate different productions, as well as in its removable seating, which allows it to be transformed into a reception and event area.
Versatility was also of paramount importance during the lighting fixture selection process. Ensuring a number of

UK - Hey Tracey! is a new quiz show for ITV2, hosted by Joel Dommett, where celebrities play to win cash for members of the public with some unpredictable consequences. The show needed vibrant lighting covering the full colour spectrum to “really emphasize the changing mood”, and lighting designer Roger Williams chose LEDJ Pixel Storm 12 Quad MKII battens for the job.
The Pixel Storm 12 battens from LEDJ have a 3000Hz refresh rate, valuable for studios and TV applications where flicker-free operation is essential. The fixtures are also versatile with end and central brackets for multiple rigging or floor standing applications. They also come supplied with an eyebrow to reduce glare and hide the LEDs when uplighting.
Roger Williams, lighting designer for the show, says: “I was asked to light a new ITV2 show called Hey Tracey!, filmed at BT sport studios, a new space for a mainstream entertainment shows. The original discussions were based on the set being black, but after seeing the space I suggested that they use grey studio walls as a backdrop to allow me to change the colour of the background giving more depth and different looks.”
Williams had recently purchased a large quantity of Pixel Storm 12 MKII fixtures and knew these would be right for the set, and when projected on the grey backdrops they showcased the vibrancy of the colours that can be created. He adds: “The battens were perfect, their 10 x 45° beam angle gave a lovely even wash up the walls and the quad-colour LEDs gave a rich variety of colours which worked

South Africa - Joburg Theatre’s longstanding technical crew, headed by Enos Ramoroko, have taken delivery of new equipment to complement their busy theatre situated on Braamfontein Hill.
DWR Distribution delivered 20 Vari-Lite VL2600 Spots and four Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots to be used in the Mandela Theatre, while the audio in the Lesedi Theatre has been upgraded to an L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and Focus (WiFo) system.
“The Vari-Lite VL 2600 Spots met our needs for an LED spot,” says Enos Ramoroko, head of technical at Joburg Theatre. “The full blade shutters will be very useful for theatre applications.”
The crew are planning to use the new fixtures on productions like Sarafina, and this year’s annual pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk.
“The Mandela Theatre’s followspots, which have probably stood the test of time for around 30 years, have been replaced by four Robert Juliat Cyranos,” says Kevin Stannett from DWR.
“We are very happy for Enos and his team, who have always been amazing to work with,” says Stannett. “I think Johan Tshiwo who handles all maintenance at the theatre, will be pleased to have fewer repairs on his hands.”
Formerly known as The Fringe, the Lesedi Theatre venue caters for 251 patrons and is used for smaller type shows such as comedy and children productions, plus music. “The Lesedi is a small and intimate theatre and the new audio system offers smooth and even coverage from the front to the back of the theatre,” says Chris Pugh from DWR who headed the install