USA - Twenty-four Ayrton MagicPanel 602 LED lighting fixtures were used to spectacular effect by lighting designer, Bryan Barancik, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 US Open tennis tournament this summer.

The Opening Ceremony, which took place in the 22,500-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium at New York's Flushing Meadows, was lit by Christien Methot. It featured an explosive performance of Are You Gonna Go My Way from Lenny Kravitz who brought in LD Bryan Barancik to design the lighting for his performance.

Barancik chose to relate his design back to the song's iconic music video. T

World - When Selena Gomez discussed the ambience she wanted to create onstage for her Stars Dance world tour with artistic director Seth Jackson, she described elegance and style, replete with a touch of classical, shimmering 'star quality' reminiscent of the mystique of Hollywood's golden era.

This was the creative starting point for the acclaimed and highly visual tour production that has evolved, the results of the talent and imagination of a serious creative 'dream team' comprising Seth Jackson, also the show's production designer, lighting designer Nathan W Scheuer and vid

UK - As Academy Music Group (AMG) explores new technology to complement existing in-house production across its venue estate, O2 Academy Leeds welcomes investment from the Group, with brand new, state of the art LED panels.

The 42 LedGo EQ HR Silan 6mm lightweight LED Black Face panels (each 488mm x 732mm) are seamless and easy to build and dramatically transform the stage, in horizontal or vertical designs, in high definition.

"We have seen more in the way of LED video coming through our venues with touring productions over the last year, so it's important we remain at the for

Belgium - The annual Les Francofolies summer music festival, held in Spa, Belgium, promotes francophone music and attracts hundreds of thousands of fans over a five-day span. Arto, a Brussels-based production company, handled the festival's production and lighting design, which consisted exclusively of Harman's Martin Professional lighting fixtures. As an integral part of the system Arto deployed 28 Martin MAC Viper Profile moving head fixtures, in addition to several other Martin luminaires.

"I chose to work with the MAC Viper Profiles for many reasons," stated lighting des

UK - Selfridges welcomed Londoners and visitors alike to Oxford Street last week for a spectacular Christmas celebration event which included high profile performances and a 'Destination Christmas' countdown, as well as the switch on of Oxford Street's annual Christmas light decorations.

The event brought in a crowd of thousands, with performances by popular artists Jessie J, Conor Maynard, and James Arthur. Selfridges entrusted entertainment lighting specialist White Light with providing lighting equipment, design, and support for the evening. Creative production company setWorks ove

Germany - Water played a leading role at Wolfsburg's Autostadt theme park this summer. The pinnacle of this year's stagings was the water shows, the world's largest of their kind, which the Autostadt produced and choreographed on its own.

Around 350 water systems producing more than 70m-high fountains, more than 130 flame generators producing up to 15m high flames, seven LED screens, eleven full-colour 25 Watt lasers, 20 green laser scanners, plus new light and sound concepts were employed at this year's shows.

Technical implementation of the project was assigned to a team whose col

UK - Luminar Leisure enlisted the expertise of Lighting Systems UK's John Richardson - who turned to lighting and video manufacturers Chauvet Europe, supplied by Glastonbury-based Batmink Distribution - to realise its ambitions for the innovative entertainment enhancement initiative The Big Night Out.

The concept was to make one Saturday night per month, at each club within the Luminar estate, different from other weekends. With the Diagio brands soon on board and keen to support a night out that would 'wow' customers and set Luminar apart from the competition, the brief encompassed n

USA - Lighting Designer Sean Agosta-Bidleman of Prysm Enterprises chose 96 Chroma-Q Color Force Compact LED fixtures to illuminate the spectacular 100 ft high Library Tower permanent installation at the University of Hawaii's new West Oahu campus.

Prysm Enterprises - a consulting and design/build firm that Creates Solutions for light, technology and production - was brought on-board by the Hawaii State Foundation for Culture and The Arts as project lighting consultants to illuminate the tower's stunning glass architecture, which was designed by Kauai based artist, Carol Bennett.

Sea

USA - The construction on the One World Trade Centre in lower Manhattan, New York City, began in 2006. After years of development the project has been completed.

Last May the gigantic 124 m high spire was secured to the top of the skyscraper, bringing the entire building to a height of 1,776 feet (541 m) - a clear reference to the year of the declaration of independence of the United States.

It also makes the building the tallest in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest in the world. The entire spire is composed of 18 parts and weighs over 700 tons.

D.T.S. Delta projectors

Spain - The Barcelona Bridal week is a significant national and international event which attracts the most prestigious firms in the sector from across the world. In May 2013 the week culminated in one of its undoubted highlights, the Pronovias show, which took place at the spectacular Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. The magnificent Oval Hall of the MNAC was the setting for what Bridal Magazine described as a "breathtakingly beautiful show." GDS technology was on view in the shape of 28 LiteWare HO (high output) up-lighters.

Notable lighting designer David Monguet was res

China - The National Day of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is celebrated every year to commemorate the founding of the world's most populous sovereign state. The holiday is observed throughout Mainland China, as well as the nation's Special Administrative Regions of Macao and Hong Kong with a variety of government-organized events including fireworks and concerts.

Recently, the organizing Committee of Compatriots in Hong Kong presented a cultural show at the Hong Kong Coliseum for this year's 64th Anniversary of the founding of the PRC. To ensure a lighting display worthy of the

USA - Developed by High End Systems, the HedgeHog 4 is the newest member of the Hog family of lighting consoles. To ensure that this breakthrough product will be available to the widest possible segment of users throughout the industry, High End Systems has entered into a distribution agreement with Elation Lighting.

Beginning at LDI this week, Elation Lighting will distribute the HedgeHog 4 in North and South America, as well as in India and Southeast Asia. "The HedgeHog 4 is blazing a new path in this market segment, so naturally we're thrilled to be involved with it," sai

South Africa - The sixth SABC Crown Gospel Awards was filmed live by the SABC for the first time this year. The event was held at a packed Durban ICC Arena and all the big names in gospel music in the country were in attendance.

A stylish and modern looking set design was needed for this; something that would wow the audience and look good especially on TV. Shiny gloss stage surfaces were used to reflect light and give the show a glittering effect and large amounts of LED were used to light up all the stairs and set elements.

"For the first time I decided to use almost 80% LED

UK - The first tour for Robe's new CycFX 8 fixtures is with UK post-punk rockers White Lies, as specified by lighting designer Matt Waterfield and supplied by London based lighting and visuals rental specialist, Colour Sound Experiment, who purchased 32 of the units directly off the booth at PLASA London in October.

The critically acclaimed White Lies released their third studio album Big TV in the late summer and the tour is generating much interest in their moody mix of intelligence and rock 'n' roll.

Waterfield who started working with the band at the start of 2013 is very

USA - When the NFL champions Baltimore Ravens gathered at the team's training facility for the Super Bowl Ring unveiling ceremony, Clay Paky Sharpys played a key role in the gala evening.

Frank Serutto, president of Excel Lighting Services in Baltimore, developed the initial lighting design for the event with Mario Serutto then selected lighting designer Mike Lurz to fine tune the design and program the team's big evening, the first event of this scale in their training facility.

Excel aimed to create a party atmosphere mixed with a corporate environment for the dinner and ring pres

USA - Martin Professional is targeting the installation market with the affordable line of effect lights, RUSH by Martin. At LDI last week, the company launched the RUSH Wizard - a lighter, brighter, more compact and even more energy efficient update of an old favourite, the Martin Wizard Extreme.

In April of this year, Martin Professional released the first RUSH by Martin products to wide acclaim from the markets for clubs and bars, DJs, bands and leisure environments.

"Returning to the market for effect lighting has been quite exciting for us at Martin, and the RUSH by Martin

Russia - Canadian lighting designer Luc Lafortune will be in St. Petersburg on 5 December this year for a special conference, called Art and Poetry in Stage Lighting.

This exclusive event will be held at the Alexandrinsky Theatre by the theatre's managerial staff, with the cooperation of TDM Stage Equipment and Clay Paky. The event media partners are the Evening Petersburg newspaper, the main Russian media and state television.

Luc Lafortune is considered one of the most creative lighting designers of the last 30 years. He has worked with Cirque du Soleil since 1984, w

UK - The third edition of Lumiere Durham, Durham's popular light festival came to a close, Sunday 17 November at 11pm. First estimates put the number of visitors at around 175,000 attending the festival over four nights. The festival is produced by leading creative company, Artichoke, and commissioned by Durham County Council. The event is also supported by Arts Council England and a raft of sponsors and funding bodies.

Artichoke says that early estimates indicate that 175,000 people attended the festival over four nights, and the city's restaurants and hotels were full to burs

UK - Richard Martin Lighting's most recent purchase is the Philips SL NITRO 510. This LED based strobe provides intense bursts of light and dynamic effects.

"The tightly packed array of over 1300 high power LEDs ensures maximum output and full-field, even distribution across 1200. The rugged construction, Showline standard LCD menu system, continuous-on operation and lower power consumption guarantee the SL NITRO 510 is the perfect strobe luminaire for any application," says Steve Wells, RML operations manager.

"A quick-connect systems allows SL NITRO 510 units to con

UK - Pulsar (Pulsar Light of Cambridge Ltd.), has announced the arrival of Cambridge Light, a new brand and trading style of the company targeted at white light industrial, commercial and architectural applications.

The launch of Cambridge Light coincides with the release of the Eco-Range Flood 130: a 130W 13,000 lumen powerhouse meeting the high-performance needs of the industrial, commercial and architectural markets.

Combined with Pulsar's outstanding build quality, the EcoFlood 130 is an obvious replacement for existing Metal Halide or Son/Sodium fittings, says the company. It i

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company Siyan has made its first investment in Chromlech's Elidy product, with the purchase of 24 x Elidy-S panels which went directly out on the current Texas tour, as specified by lighting designer Paddy Farr.

Siyan is supplying all the tour's lighting and associated rigging, a project that started off as a floor specials package for some of the smaller shows in Europe and then expanded to the full production rig for the latter half of Europe and the UK section as the venues increased in size.

Siyan's project manager Jez Johnstone comments, "P

USA - To call the last two years of work on the Long Beach Arena "a renovation" would be a substantial understatement. In reality, the work done by Theatre Projects, working for John Sergio Fisher Architects, Jerry Sherman AIA, and the city of Long Beach, could more accurately be described as a reinvention - breathing new life and new commercial potential into a venue that - at 50 years old - had fallen behind its newer, larger competitors, and found itself unsuited to meet the needs of some potential clients.

As the arena creates a new identity for smaller events - The Paci

USA - The new MAC Quantum Wash by Martin Professional, which launched at LDI 2013, Las Vegas, features "tight beams, beautiful wash fields, a market-leading colour palette and uniform mixing that combines to accommodate the most demanding applications, offering brightness and perfection". Combining an impressive 750-watt of RGBW LED power with Martin's optical system ensures that the 1:6 zoom on the MAC Quantum Wash operates with maximum output and superior performance.

"By combining the lens shift possibilities first seen in the MAC Viper Quadray with the MAC Aura's gr

Canada - CAST Software has announced the release of Vivien 2014 with new graphics, some serious new and improved features, myriad performance enhancements, and some Library additions.

The new Import Wizard imports JPEG or PDF format floor plans directly into Vivien and includes onscreen features, such as rotation, selecting insertion points, and it will even properly scale the floor plan so you can start planning the space right away, making it easier and faster to work in Vivien. New features for file importing facilitate management of layers to ease management of AutoCAD2013, and st

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