USA - High End Systems SolaFrame fixtures made their US screen debut in the 20th Century Fox film, Ford v Ferrari. The film is released under different titles worldwide such as Le Mans ‘66 throughout Europe, and Contra lo impossible in Mexico and Argentina.
Los Angeles-based Lux Lighting was the first to purchase 12 SolaFrame Theatre High-CRI units last year, and when the SolaFrame 3000 launched last summer, they quickly ordered a dozen of those as well. Both were deployed in the filming, which started in July 2018 in Los Angeles.
Actors Matt Damon and Christian Bale play starring roles in the real-life 1966 battle between auto manufacturers Ford and Ferrari in building a superior car for the 24-hour Le Mans race in France.
Although there were plenty of loud racetrack scenes, Lux Lighting owner/LD Mike Bauman - who served as gaffer in the film - chose the SolaFrame Theatre for its completely silent operation. No fans means no noise - which Bauman says it critical in his industry. “Sound is as equal to picture in the film business,” he notes, “so this fixture is a perfect fit.”
Bauman adds: “Sola Frame Theatre really functions on two critical pieces: dead silent operation and high CRI white light engine. On a film set with today’s digital cameras, maximum lumen output has become less of a criteria and colour fidelity is much more critical. During prep, we tested both the SolaFrame Theatre and the SolaFrame 3000 with the High Fidelity engine. Ford V Ferrari’s cinematographer Phedon Papmichael was impre
Finland - The biggest New Year’s Eve party in Finland takes place in the country’s capital, Helsinki. It features an outdoor concert showcasing some of the nation’s top performers during the build-up to a firework spectacular at midnight. For the 2019 celebration, 70 ADJ fixtures formed a significant part of the concert lightshow that was not only witnessed in person by a large crowd but also by a million viewers on state television channel, YLE.
Taking place in Helsinki’s Senate Square, and attracting a large crowd despite the harsh winter weather, the concert featured a largely female-driven line-up. The headline performer was popular Finnish singer-songwriter Vesala, who had released a new single and look just days before the event. Also performing was trend-setting pop singer, Vesta, who delivered a powerful performance as the climax to her break-through year on the pop scene.
The show was opened by a spectacular display from the Maria Baric Company with their fire circus, featured a set from DJ Orion, and was hosted by Ernest Lawson from the popular Finnish TV comedy show Putous and local TV personality Sampo Marjomaa. Mayor Jan Vapaavuori also delivered the traditional New Year’s speech before the main firework display at midnight.
The event is organised by Helsinki Marketing, which is a company owned by the City of Helsinki. It is responsible for Helsinki’s marketing and business partnerships, as well as producing events within the city. As when any public organisation is undertaking a project, supply of the lighting production fo
USA - A large complement of Claypaky lighting fixtures hit the road with Mexican pop rock band Maná when the multi Grammy Award winners launched their North American Rayando el Sol Tour in September. The tour is named after the band’s first hit single.
Maná was founded in Mexico in 1986 and has become one of the most successful rock bands in Latin music history. They have sold more than 40m albums worldwide and won four Grammys and eight Latin Grammys. The Rayando el Sol Tour kicked in Corpus Christi, Texas and wrapped in Los Angeles in December playing more than 30 dates. Their seven-show LA appearance at The Forum broke the six-night record of Kanye West and The Eagles.
Menga Cruz, lighting designer and lighting and video programmer for Maná, chose 122 Claypaky Mythos2, 24 Sharpy Wash and 22 Scenius Unico fixtures for the show’s rig, which he obtained from 4Wall.
“I have been working with Mythos since 2015; I think I was the first person to take Mythos on tour,” says Cruz. “I know Mythos so well now, I know all of its capabilities even ultra-fast movement. Mythos is part of my creative process – when I am drawing and imagining the cues for each song I know exactly which gobo I want to use and which effect I want to apply.”
Cruz used the Sharpy Washes on Stage C, a small stage behind FOH, which provided the more intimate moments of the show. “We needed a small moving light with a good wash, CMY and good color saturation,” he says. “With all those requirements there was no other option on the market but the Sharpy Wash.
UK - The Chailey Heritage Foundation DREAM Centre in Sussex uses modern AV technology to make a range of experiences accessible for children and young people for whom it is very difficult to travel. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall opened the centre on 17 October.
Chailey Heritage Foundation provides schooling and residential care for children and young adults with complex physical disabilities, high health needs, sensory impairments, and associated learning difficulties. The new sports and activity centre allows young people in wheelchairs to play indoor sports, take part in drama and musical performances, develop their balance through rebound therapy, learn to drive a powered wheelchair, and broaden their horizons through a ground-breaking immersive experience zone.
“We are honoured to have played a role in creating this amazing facility for such a deserving and wonderful group of young people,” says David Marks, CEO of TEECOM, which provided technology strategy, design and engineering, and project management.
Replacing a 1950s-era assembly hall, the DREAM (dynamic, real, experiential, amazing, magical) Centre was made possible by a £3.1m fundraising initiative and significant contributions of time from the local building industry. Key contributors included Matt Barton, CEO of 7thSense Design and 2nd Chailey Scoutmaster; Blair Parkin, Magnus Kemp, and Barrie Paveley at TEECOM; Paolo Marenghi, account manager at Epson (UK) Ltd.; Deacon Richardson Architects; and North Star Engineers Ltd.
“The building has different modes,
USA - Ayrton Perseo-S compact multi-function luminaires, which have been developed for intensive outdoor use, made their US debut at the Public Works musical adaptation of Hercules in the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. Tony Award-winning lighting designer, Tyler Micoleau, selected the new fixtures, with an IP65 enclosure rating, for the Labour Day weekend production, which traditionally wraps a summer of Shakespeare in the Park outdoor shows.
Hercules is based on the Disney animated film and featured the entire score plus several new songs. The production was from The Public Theatre’s Public Works initiative, which invites communities across New York to create ambitious participatory theatre. More than 200 New Yorkers took part in the dynamic production.
The show marked the first time that Tyler Micoleau has used Ayrton fixtures. Micoleau has worked on three other productions at the Delacorte, including two previous Public Works shows. “Historically, we have used a mostly conventional rig but have now migrated to LEDs and movers like a lot of the industry,” he says. “But they are more fragile outdoors, so we were interested in what was available with an IP65 enclosure rating. We knew that moving from housings that make it very labour-intensive and impractical to swap out lights to a weather-resistant fixture was a big deal.”
According to Alex Brandt, lighting supervisor for The Public Theatre: “We swap about one moving light a day in the park that’s non-IP rated. A humid day can be as bad for them as a rainstorm.”<
Germany - The Black Forest’s steep Ravenna Gorge hosts an annual Christmas Market.
Lending a magical quality to this event, and contributing to its visual appeal, is the 40m high railway viaduct that runs directly over the site. With its massive arches towering above vendor booths selling Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and other holiday treats, the viaduct has become a symbol of the Ravenna Gorge Christmas Market.
Accentuating the viaduct’s majestic architectural features and enhancing its transformative effect on the market this year was an outdoor lighting design by Bächle Event & Media that featured 30 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Quad IP65 rated fixtures.
Positioned at the base of the viaduct’s arches, the RGBW fixtures were used to bathe the towering structure in an array of evocative colours. The colours that washed the viaduct were changed throughout the four-weekend event to create a variety of atmospheres that reflected different moods.
With its high output (1510 lux at 5m) and tight beam angle, the COLORado 1 Quad had the throw distance to cover high up on the viaduct. At times, however, light from the fixtures was focused for shorter distances to create different effects.
Bächle Event & Media’s Michael Thoma, who has been lighting the Ravenna Gorge Christmas market for over six consecutive years, noted that the colour rendering capability of the COLORado 1 Quad was only one of the reasons it was selected for this project. “The colourful illumination of the bridge was a big factor,” he says. “The othe
Poland - Opened in 1947, the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music (aMuz) in Gdańskhas a progressive approach to music education, recognising that training students in classical music doesn’t mean they will stay in the traditional classical field. An Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system is helping students to seamlessly blend old and new instrumentation in the Academy’s concert hall.
Because course content at aMuz is constantly evolving, as well as classical recitals (where very little, if any, amplification is needed) the concert hall is staging increasingly diverse performances, including opera, operetta, musicals, jazz and contemporary classical productions, where electronic instruments play solo or with orchestral instruments.
The 50-year old, 592sq.m venue has an audience capacity of 413 in raked stalls and a balcony, with a 160m2 stage. Its existing small sound reinforcement system was completely inadequate for the evolving performance programme, so Piotr Rodak - chief sound engineer at aMuz - was looking for a much better system.
Piotr has his experience with Alcons products by using QR24 systems of local rental company Offstage, owned by Przemyslaw Waszkiewicz and from Alcons’ Polish distributor Aplauz. Having the system update in mind, Piotr attended a demonstration of Alcons Audio pro-ribbon systems hosted by Aplauz, where he spoke to Alcons co-founder Tom Back, Aplauz president and managing director Grzegorz Fotek and Patryk Kozak - Offstage-related sound engineer and owner of contractor company Sound System.
Piotr comments: “It was im
France - After more than two years of renovations, the celebrated Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris has recently reopened its doors to the public. With the intention of restoring the venue to its original splendour, the project saw the inclusion of an array of products from ETC and High End Systems.
Christophe Leuba - one of the venue’s two lighting managers who assist lighting director Renaud Corler - recognised the potential of ETC Eos consoles after attending an ETC training session. “I loved the event and as soon as I got back to the Châtelet I arranged an ‘Introduction to Eos’ session for our entire team,” says Leuba.
Subsequently, two Eos Ti consoles were installed in the theatre’s control room - one of which is used in the audience during creation phase - and a more compact Ion Xe 20 was chosen for use elsewhere.
Even though decision-making for lighting control and power control was not connected at the outset, the Eos consoles chosen complemented the Sensor3 Power control system selected, with both product families originating from ETC. “It's really convenient to be able to control the dimmers from the consoles,” says Bernard Maby, the theatre’s other lighting manager. “In addition, it’s very nice to have the feedback directly on the desks.”
The electrical room features seven Sensor3 power control racks fitted with 582 modules, plus 24 modules in an additional rack for lighting. The team opted to work in sACN for communication between consoles, dimmers and fixtures.
Technical solution provider Dushow was ap
USA - When Sellersville Theatre 1894 north of Philadelphia sought to upgrade its aging lighting rig early in 2019, the venue contacted Artistic Concepts Group for a solution and ended up demoing a number of potential fixtures.
“Michael Wysolmerski at Artistic Concepts was very patient and brought in dozens of lights to demo,” recounts the theatre’s technical director and production manager, Daniel Faga. “We both knew the Artiste DaVinci was the winner as soon as we saw them in the space.”
Sellersville Theatre 1894 is an intimate and historic live performance venue located adjacent to the even more historic Washington House Restaurant & The 325-seat auditorium with cabaret seating is exceptionally busy, hosting hundreds of national and international acts every year.
“Our diverse line-up of performances ranges from comedy to theatre to music of all genres,” states Faga, who has worked at the theatre for 12 years and also serves as show tech and lighting designer. “In any given week, we could have a blues guitarist Monday, a metal band Tuesday, a solo folk singer-songwriter Wednesday, a sketch comedy troupe Thursday, a movie screening Friday, a bluegrass quartet Saturday and a classic rock act Sunday. Therefore, versatility was key in our light system upgrade. With such a wide range of shows, we needed a lighting rig that could feel like a big arena rock show one night and an intimate acoustic show the next.”
Seeking to upgrade some older conventional lighting, PAR cans and Fresnels, Faga evaluated Elation’s Artiste DaVin
Croatia - The historic Istrian People’s Theatre (INK) in Pula is now hosting international music ensembles as well as dramatic productions, thanks to a major audio upgrade. It has recently replaced all of its sound reinforcement and monitoring systems with L-Acoustics Syva and X Series technologies, as well as LA4X amplification.
This European venue has had an eventful life. Its origins lay with the much smaller Teatro Nuovo (New Theatre), built in 1854 when Pula was part of the Austrian Empire. That was replaced in 1879 by a much a grander version, which itself has stood the test of time through various governments.
In 2004, the theatre was officially renamed the Istrian People’s Theatre, City Theatre Pula, and is now generally branded as 'INK' (Istarsko Narodno Kazalište). Its main auditorium has a capacity of 699, spread across the main siting area, lodges for spectators on the first and second floor and on the balcony on the third floor.
Miodrag Flego is the sound manager at the venue, and largely responsible for specifying the new L-Acoustics PA. After many years of coping with a very tired audio system that, according to Flego, was poorly specified for a theatre of INK's calibre and quality, the decision was made to invest in new audio infrastructure. The theatre turned to the L-Acoustics distributor for Croatia, Dicroic. “We were looking for something with fantastic sound quality that would also blend in with the spectacular historic architecture,” he explains. “We decided that Syva had the best of both worlds.”
Syva is a
UK - Clarity, ease of use and the ability to match the colour of the microphone to different skin tones were all reasons why Toby Chevis, director of UK live events company Patch Productions, chose DPA’s 6066 Subminiature Headset Microphones to amplify those who were speaking at the prestigious Cheltenham Literary Festival.
During the 10-day event, the company used a total of 40 6066 headsets across eight venues, including Cheltenham’s Montpelier Gardens and Town Hall sites. Among the famous participants who wore DPA were Andrew Lloyd Webber, Louis Theroux, Rob Drydon and Graham Norton.
“The festival was keen to be as inclusive as possible this year, so being able to offer a microphone with varying colour options and a consistent audio quality was fantastic,” Chevis explains. “I’ve been a big fan of DPA Headset Microphones for eight years now and Patch Productions owns a number of 4000 Series Headsets, but for this event we bought additional microphones.”
Based in Cirencester, Patch Productions prides itself on consistently delivering high-quality technical productions covering festivals, corporate events and theatres. Although this was the first time the company had tackled the prestigious Cheltenham Literary Festival, it has previously worked on the town’s Science and Music Festivals and won this contract on the basis of the excellent services it provided at both of those events.
The Cheltenham Literary Festival was broadcast on Sky Arts, which took a mixed feed straight from Patch Productions’ desk. Audio quality was very
USA - To create immersive lighting displays that compliment the colours of the Zimmermann Spring 2020 clothing line, Enlumen recently deployed a Martin by Harman lighting solution at the New York Fashion Week Zimmermann Spring 2020 Fashion Show.
Founded by sisters Nicky and Simone Zimmermann in 1991, Zimmermann is an award-winning Australian fashion label with 27 stores located throughout Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. Zimmermann recently unveiled their spring 2020 collection during New York Fashion Week.
In order to illicit a more emotional response from the audience, Zimmermann worked with renowned lighting specialists Enlumen to create an immersive lighting solution that accentuated the signature pastel colours of their new collection. To meet these goals, Enlumen designed and installed a Martin by Harman lighting solution featuring VDO Sceptron 10 linear LED video fixtures.
“We were hired to create an atmosphere to match the design that the Zimmermann team created for their spring 2020 line,” explains Shawn Kaufman, lighting designer, Enlumen. “We had three arrays of Sceptron fixtures hanging over the audience, all working cohesively to create colour and effects. They wanted a very strong feeling of colour throughout the whole space. Throughout the show, the tubes cycled through solid colours, matching the main colour theories of the collection.”
Enlumen deployed 150 Martin VDO Sceptron 10 LED video fixtures in three arrays to create a vibrant, immersive lighting display for the event.
“The colours and the feel of the lig
Mexico - Light artist and designer Christopher Bauder and composer / music producer Kanding Ray brought their epic immersive kinetic light / sonic art piece SKALAR to Mexico City for a five-week installation, which also featured seven live shows in Fronton Mexico, on the Plaza de la Republica, right in the heart of this massive megalopolis.
Ninety Robe Pointe moving lights plus 65 x double-sided mirrors each with a perimeter ring of 180 addressable pixels and suspended on 195 x custom WHITEvoid motors were at the core of the work.
SKALAR premiered at Kraftwerk in Berlin last year. The former turbine hall of the derelict old power station provided a dramatic, charismatic, industrial cathedral-like backdrop for this powerful piece. It was a huge success, and Christopher’s ambition was always to tour it to other cool places around the world.
Fronton Mexico offered similar installation and spatial parameters for the lighting, mirrors / kinetic winch system and audio set-ups, but being a black box space, it was a completely new environment in which to present the immersive SKALAR experience.
These challenges appealed to Christopher, David Letellier (Kanding Ray) and production manager Martin Kuhn who has worked with Christopher on several projects and is based in Germany and Mexico.
Whilst essentially the same show, some of the soundscape and lighting cues were reimagined for Mexico. While nothing needed radical changing, Christopher and David took the opportunity to finesse their intricate collaboration with the experience
France - Digital media specialists ArKaos have supplied two media servers, one 4K Studio server and one Stage server, to the new multi-million-pound Parisian headquarters of eSports organisation, Team Vitality.
Called V.Hive, the space is a 10,700sq.ft facility built on three floors, complete with a lively storefront that is open to the public and including a streaming booth, gaming rooms, a content production studio, a cinema, a WebTV studio plus numerous offices.
ArKaos’s Benjamin Bauwens project managed the installation of the servers that are running a series of digital banners, screens and LED lighting elements in the retail area of the V.Hive, which includes a shopping area and a coffee bar plus a training room for players. The company became involved in this project via Best Audio & Lighting, an installation specialist and sister company of leading technical production / rental company Dushow, both owned by Le Groupe Novelty.
“The requirement was for powerful, straightforward and logical control of content over these various different LED surfaces in this dynamic multi-purpose environment,” explains Benjamin, who worked closely with Sylvain Maillard from Team Vitality and Alain Lheriteau from Best Audio to design, install and commission a custom server system to work for all their video display and decorative LED needs.”
V.Hive was designed - by HKS Architects - as a full-scale event space, with the goal of hosting national eSports and other events, masterclasses, conferences, viewing parties, and showcases.
The groun
UK - In November, lighting designer Hayden Borgars included the VL10 BeamWash from Vari-Lite in his design for the UK tour by California ‘rapcore’ band, Fever 333. Using the VL10 BeamWash for the first time, Borgars found its effects versatility, speed and power to be “a perfect fit” for his design.
With the band’s famously unpredictable live performances, Borgars looked for versatile, fast fixtures that could offer endless effects variety, while responding quickly to sudden changes in the show’s flow. “Being able to adapt and move the fixtures was crucial to choosing the VL10s,” he says. “The zoom range was also great and, for this fast-paced show, very necessary - particularly how fast it can go from a 2.2° beam to a 48° wash.”
Borgars was especially keen to explore the possibilities provided by Vari-Lite’s VL*FX Animation wheel. “This was the perfect opportunity to use the VL10, with its limitless possibilities of what we could achieve,” he says. “Exploring the VL*FX Animation wheel, and how I could add this to beam looks, aerial gobo effects and wash looks, just brought so many possibilities and unique looks for me to work with.”
Borgars also found the VL10’s colour and intensity of output, which he described as “particularly impressive and punchy”, to be ideally suited to generating the looks he wanted to create for the band. He concludes: “The VL10 completely exceeded my expectations. It’s such a versatile fixture, there are so many uses that I can see it would serve a purpose for.”
(Jim Evans)
USA - Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design, along with creative director Brian Burke, provided lighting and production design for country singer Keith Urban’s Summer Festival Tour, which has been running this past year. The lighting rig comprised mainly GLP’s popular X4 Bars and JDC1 hybrid strobes.
As well as providing creative direction for Urban, Tom has already made a name for himself Stateside, winning the KOI Sword last year for his work on Pitbull’s Las Vegas residency and tour.
The Keith Urban tour also had a Las Vegas segment thrown in, with a spot at the CMT Awards in Nashville and two valedictory nights at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace, also co-designed with Brian Burke, to round off the tour.
With Hunter Selby assisting in the lighting design, the DX7 Design team commandeered 200 impression X4 Bars and 50 JDC1’s from PRG.
DX7 Design already has numerous touring and prime time reality show and popular entertainment TV credits to its name in both the US and UK. Along the way they have frequently used GLP solutions in their scenography, notably X4 Bars and JDC1’s, most recently on Westlife’s The Twenty tour and Dancing With The Stars.
“For Keith Urban’s Festival tour, the driving factor was creating the greatest impact on a festival stage while making the touring aspect of the production as scalable and manageable as possible,” states Tom Sutherland. “The entire rig had to be able to load-in and load-out quickly and efficiently and be able to be scaled according to the vastly different capabilitie
UK - Ilfracombe-based S+H Technical Support supplied LED screen and video flooring to Stoneapple Productions for a large event in the Great Hall at Wembley Stadium, London, for The Budweiser Brewing Group (BBG).
BBG commissioned Stoneapple Productions to design, produce and co-ordinate all the technical elements required for the two-day event, attended by BBG customers and showcasing a number of their brands, including Stella Artois, Budweiser, Becks and Corona.
The S+H 3.9mm LED screen was used in the main conference and presentation area, designed as a 270-degree auditorium comprising a main stage and catwalk going into the audience and surrounded by 6 banks of seats for 800 guests.
The main upstage screen was configured as a 10m-wide by 3m high surface, with the central section curving gracefully at the bottom and flowing into the 10m long catwalk, completing an elegant, stylish and innovative design utilising the 20mm pitch LED floor.
Two additional LED surfaces were positioned opposite the main screen, enabling 360% surround viewing, each screen measuring 4.5m wide by 2.5 deep.
The screens collectively supported a series of live presentations and showed brand-related video content throughout the two-day event.
On the evening of the first day, the space was transformed into a party area, with a band and DJ onstage. The versatile design plus all the LED surfaces then helped ramp up the fun factor and party vibes creating a great ambience for all to enjoy.
Keynote, Google slides and PowerPoint presentations along with vide
UK - A.C. Special Projects (AC-SP) has provided a LED system to illuminate Weymouth’s 1.2km seaside promenade in a dynamic lighting scheme inspired by the local community.
The Weymouth Promenade Artistic Lighting Scheme is part of a portfolio of connected projects which aim to improve physical, digital and emotional connections to the coast in Dorset, funded by the Coastal Communities Fund and coordinated by Dorset Coast Forum.
Owing to its exposure to the outdoor elements and sea air, the scheme’s lighting system needed to conform to marine grade levels of durability in every area of its specification.
LED specialists, AC-SP worked with Dorset Council and scheme lighting designer, Tonkin Liu to supply all equipment and assist with the system’s installation methodology and programming.
AC-SP project manager, Chris Little worked with the company’s installation team to specify a fully weather-proof custom solution which would deliver maximum reliability and longevity.
Working with a HERS-certified electrical contractor, AC-SP installed 112 1.5m Traxon Media Tube HO IP66 RGB LED fixtures, which were selected for their flexibility and suitability to coastal environments.
The fixtures were retrofitted to the bay’s existing street lights infrastructure, which are dispersed at intervals along the length of the promenade between the Pier Bandstand and the Pavilion. Each column has four Traxon Media Tube HO RGB fixtures, which utilise Traxon’s Quick Connect Cable to allow easy installation.
AC-SP re-configured each tube
Australia - The Sydney Dance Company recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a double bill featuring two starkly different performances illuminated by lighting designer Ben Cisterne with Martin Professional MAC Encore Wash WRM fixtures.
Established in 1969, the Sydney Dance Company has a broad community beyond the practice and performance of its lead dancers who believe in the universality of dance, and with the largest public dance class programme in Australia, they help over 70,000 people a year connect with the grace, strength and creativity.
To commemorate its 50th anniversary, the company performed a short run of special back-to-back performances from 1-9 November at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Walsh Bay. The first piece performed, 6 Breaths, was choreographed by the company’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela to an original score for piano and six cellos by Italian composer Ezio Bosso. Twelve dancers clad in ripped black clothing danced on a dark, smoke-filled stage, with abstract animations projected onto a scrim downstage between movements.
The second piece on the programme, Gideon Obarzanek’s Us 50, contrasted the first performance with a bright, open setting and an energetic electronic score by UK musician Clark. The piece featured an impressive 50 performers, including current and former company dancers as well as members of the community. Lighting designer Ben Cisterne illuminated the show with Martin Professional MAC Encore Wash WRM fixtures as recommended by Ian Gerrard from Intense Lighting, relying on their
Belgium - Painting with Light (PWL) has created a 2km walk-through lighting and visual experience in the centre of Bruges to add atmosphere, luminosity and magic for the festive Wintergloed (Winter Glow) season.
Commissioned by Bruges Plus, the organisation responsible for the town’s cultural events, PWL’s winning pitch was led by Peter van den Bosch (business unit manager for leisure & entertainment’) and lighting expert Iiris Rousku who designed the various lighting artworks with their team.
It comprises a series of elegant, eye-catching, ephemeral and different lighting and projection-mapped installations, located in six different areas.
Each installation was inspired by an aspect of the warmth and hospitality of the people of Bruges and its many visitors over the different generations.
Different approaches were taken for each work - some can be observed, some can be touched and interacted with and others are fully immersive.
Some add a playful touch, others utilise synesthetic philosophies and ideas related to colour changing and mood empathy, while others riff with nearby textures, materials and natural elements like water reflections.
This, the first edition of Wintergloed includes the lighting of pathways, waterways, streets, buildings and monuments, trees and foliage, bridges and numerous other spaces and objects along the route, plus a special custom construction - The Cathedral - built in the Station Square, which is lit and projection-mapped.
One goal of the overall scheme was enabling visitors t
Norway - The Amerikalinjen building located in the most central and vibrant part of Oslo has a rich and colourful history. It was inaugurated in 1919 as the headquarters of the Norwegian America Line, a successful passenger and freight shipping company that opened up the New World for hundreds of thousands of Norwegians.
One century later the architectural landmark has been reborn as one of Oslo’s premier urban boutique hotels, complete with a comprehensive Genelec sound system supplied by Norwegian pro audio specialists, Benum. Occupying some of Oslo’s most prime real estate, Amerikalinjen - owned by the Nordic Choice Hotels group - has retained all of its authenticity whilst providing today’s travellers with a thoroughly modern experience.
The remit was clear - Amerikalinjen wanted the best possible sound in all areas of the hotel, to match the rest of the high quality services and fittings. The requirement was for four separate areas: reception; the restaurant; the cocktail bar; and the beautifully luxuriant conservatory at the heart of the hotel. Everything should sound extraordinary.
“Genelec was a completely natural choice for this installation,” declares Ronald Hernes, Benum CEO who oversaw the Amerikalinjen project. “First, the sound quality is second to none. Secondly, they are active speakers which are therefore easier to cable and install, and there is no need for an amp rack room. Finally, you know that once they are in, the client will have trouble-free service for years. There’s no doubt that, for a project of this cali
Sweden - ELC Lighting has announced that Stockholm Stadsteater (City Theatre will benefit from a new ELC Lighting network distribution system based around the dmXLAN Node8GBx range of DMX-to-network converters.
The system, including 63 dmXLAN node3 units purchased from ELC Lighting distributor mLite AB via local dealer Intersonic, is being installed across multiple performance spaces as part of the Stadsteater’s technical renovation.
Situated at the heart of the city in the bustling Kulturhuset cultural hub, the Stadsteater is one of Sweden’s most popular theatres, producing up to 40 productions each year on its various stages. Its new ELC dmXLAN system, which operates over Art-Net, sACN and Shownet as standard protocols and offers remote programming and monitoring via ELC’s dmXLAN software, is set to provide a new level of flexibility throughout the site.
The Stadsteater’s main house, where new lighting trusses are soon to be installed, will house seven dmXLAN Node8GBx units, each offering eight fully programmable DMX ports and a dual Gigabit port switch with user interface.
“We wanted to rethink how the lighting consoles send out their sACN,” says Stadsteater technical manager, Tommy Leandersson. “Even if we only have eight full DMX universes from the lighting consoles, we could spread all the outputs on multiple universes so we can use dedicated, fixed universes on every lighting truss. With a standard 8-port node and DMX-splits you are limited within those eight universes - we are not. We can use any universe, wherever we wa
UK - Blitz, a GES company, brings Southampton’s unique history into the future with its three-day projection mapping experience, right in the heart of the town centre.
Taking place on the evenings of 21-23 November, this spectacular visual experience was commissioned by GO! Southampton, the Business Improvement District for Southampton City Centre, and is the official launch of a series of illuminations happening all over the city this winter.
Displayed on the iconic Grade I listed Bargate medieval gatehouse, the projection show told stories of Southampton’s past, present and future, narrated by the city’s mythical founder Sir Bevois, who regaled his tales to his friend - the Christmas Giant.
Using mapping technology, the projections revealed a unique visual experience never seen in the city before bringing the ancient monument to life. But this unique activation wasn’t without its challenges and put the digital creative team at Blitz to the test.
Samuel Iwaniak, senior designer at Blitz who led the project, explained: “Our biggest challenge was the unique canvas of the Grade I listed building on which the creative is displayed. The visuals span the length of the North side of the structure which is unfortunately not the most level due to its heritage. The show also included a broad range of footage from a number of stakeholders across the city including ABP Port of Southampton, Southampton Football Club, toob and the city’s archives - all of which needed to be brought to life.”
Giles Semper, chief executive of
USA - Tenth Avenue North, the multiple Dove Award-winning band recently wrapped their fan-favourite Decade The Halls tour this Christmas season, with special guests Plumb and Land of Color. , which explores the last 100 years of popular music with the costumes, set and lighting reflecting the styles of music Bandit Lites provided the lighting system for the show ranging from Christmas pageants to candlelight services.
“The big directive for the tour design is it needed to contain looks that reminded audience of every decade of the music they’re hearing,” explains lighting designer Mike Marcario. “Combined with logistical directives to keep the system simple enough to be set, teched, ran and struck by a one-man lighting crew, while also living within a lower than usual weight restriction due to transportation, I believe we landed on a production design that accomplishes all of it.”
Bandit Lites supplied GLP X4S, Elation CuePix WW2 Blinders, Chauvet Rogue RH1 Hybrids, Chauvet Nexus 4x1 fixtures and Mega-lite Circa Scoop LEDs, a fixture that Marcario shared doubles as the workhorse and time machine of the lighting.
“Starting the night only using the warm LED in the centre, similar to a large old incandescent bulb, then adding the RGB colour mixing and pixel mapping element as we get to the decades where that technology emerged allows me to easily paint looks from each of those decades,” he says.
“As the tour takes place mostly in churches and theatres, the lighting system has to stand on its own without any support overhead fr