This was the first international automotive expo open to the public since the pandemic triggered global lockdowns in March 2020 (photo: Louise Stickland)
Germany - Bold, bright, vivid with the assistance of Robe moving lights was the look central to Lucas Conradi’s lighting design for the Volkswagen booth at the IAA Mobility 2021 expo in Munich.
This was the first international automotive expo open to the public to be staged since the pandemic triggered global lockdowns in March 2020. The client and booth designer was Mutabor Brand Experience, and the lighting equipment was supplied by Cologne Hunters.
Lucas, from creative and technical event planners IXPI, was both project and technical manager as well as LD for this booth, and he picked the 15 x Robe Fortes and 36 x Esprites to be a major part of the stand’s lighting art.
Four Robe RoboSpot remote follow spotting systems, controlling four of the Fortes, were specified for the flurry of events and presentations during the expo’s press day, and there were also 58 x Robe LEDWash 800 luminaires fitted with beam shapers and top hats dotted around specific areas of the stand highlighting cars and the pop-up press area / broadcast studio.
The slick and clean architectural styling of the booth was defined by the new brand design, complete with vibrant ‘sky’ video screens, coloured plexi panels and other illuminated set pieces in the ceiling and around the stand that shaped the booth. There was a compact double deck / VIP area along one side of the stand with a panoramic view of the bottom deck.
A spectacular wide LED screen at the back of the stand played out a range of timecoded info-content also linked to lighting cues, and in front of the screen at one end was the new VW ID Life concept car which attracted plenty of attention. Celebrity visitors on press day included German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Lighting was programmed and run on a grandMA2 system. In addition to illuminating the cars, lighting cues were developed to match the video content and emphasise the colours and scenic vibrance of the environment. Co-ordinating everything and keeping up with the tight schedule plus responding quickly and deftly to changes related to events and presentations demanded a lot of flexibility and tight organisation.
On site, Anne Wohlgemuth and another colleague from IXPI supported Lucas with project management and focussing of the cars. The team was further enhanced by Wolfgang Krämer from prefocus and Ben Schiller. Wolfgang programmed and operated lighting for the booth overall while Ben was responsible for press conference lighting.

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