Lighting

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05 December 2024

UK - As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, Pharos Architectural Controls has released a new set of podcast episodes focusing on some of the projects that have been able to scale up – either in size or in the complexity of programming – thanks to Pharos.

The 20 Years of Pharos campaign is spotlighting 10 lighting professionals and 10 projects that have shaped the success of the company over the last two decades.

Renowned lighting professionals Nick Abel from LS Group in New Zealand, and Peter van Nuland from GVA Lighting in Canada both feature in this part of the campaign to chat through their careers and how working with Pharos has enabled them to bring both large and intricate projects to life.

The podcasts provide another deep dive into the ways in which Pharos technologies – and the teams behind the gear – work col

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05 December 2024

Argentina - Zactrack has announced Stage Tech as its new distribution partner for Argentina and Uruguay.

Stephan Saremba, managing director of Zactrack International, comments: “We are thrilled to join forces with Stage Tech on the mission of bringing automated tracking technology to Argentina and Uruguay. We are looking forward to working with their dedicated and recently grown team, which will allow us to strengthen relationships with existing Zactrack users in the region as well as to expand into new markets.”

Antonio Agra, managing director of Stage Tech, adds: “We thank Zactrack for the trust placed in Stage Tech and the opportunity to be part of the company´s global network. With our industry experienced team, we’ll be allowed to collaborate and achieve excellent results in our professional markets with Zactrack automated follow system

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05 December 2024

USA - Like the music it celebrates, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, which just marked its 39th year, has also drawn on its ability to embrace new ideas to remain vibrant and relevant.

The 2024 ceremony provided a good example of this commitment, as a dynamic lighting design by Allen Branton that featured over 250 Chauvet Professional fixtures (supplied by 4Wall Entertainment), worked seamlessly with a Bruce Rodgers production design, and an immersive video design by Bianca Moncada of Darmah, to engage the live and TV audience on a deep level, all while supporting the activities on stage.

Much of the magic that happened inside the Rocket Mortgage Field House on a Saturday evening was made possible by the design team’s ongoing readiness to adapt to new technologies. This was most evident in the event

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05 December 2024

USA - Antari Lighting and Special Effects will showcase the latest advancements in atmospheric and effect technology at this year’s LDI show, booth #1803. Antari will introduce three products focusing on large venue applications and its new Universal Voltage Technology, ensuring global adaptability.

Antari is expanding its popular M-series with the M-12, a powerful dual output stage fogger. Delivering an impressive output of dense, lingering fog, the M-12 transforms any environment with its extensive coverage. Its high-power capabilities create an immersive atmosphere for concerts, events, and productions.

The new F-12 Nebula fazer is designed with professional settings in mind. Its advanced heater design operates at a low temperature to produce dry, odourless haze, making it ideal for theatres and indoor venues.

Both the M-12 and F-12 feat

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05 December 2024

USA - Follow-Me will present two of its latest products to the US market at LDI 2024 (#1347). Follow-Me offers flexible tracking solutions that scale with the size of the show. Its Follow-Me 3D and Follow-Me Track-iT technologies allow users to merge and integrate with any lighting console, video, sound and automation system on the market.

The Follow-Me system is independent from any fixture manufacturer and can control any lighting fixture that can pan and tilt. Fixtures can be used not only as followspots, but also as general lighting and effects, while multiple fixtures can be allocated per performer using a single system. With Follow-Me Track-iT, users have access to a live view of the tracking area via the camera feed for both manual and automated operation, and can switch seamlessly between manual and automated tracking.

Over the past year, Fol

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04 December 2024

France - Showlight is extremely excited to announce the first of its speakers who will present Papers in May. The selection draws from a mixture of lighting disciplines covering site-specific installations, mixed lighting challenges, product innovation and circus spectaculars with speakers, new and familiar, travelling to Dijon to be part of this exceptional networking quadrennial.

Here’s the first of what the Showlight 2025 line-up has to offer:

The Magic of Cirque du Soleil - Mikki Kunttu will explain how he turns magic into reality as the lighting & set designer and programmer for a number of spectacular Cirque du Soleil shows.

The Power of Light: From Myth to Science to Control - Anne Militello will examine how lighting techniques used today to stir emotional reactions, date back centuries to when man first incorpor

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04 December 2024

UK - Stephen Daldry’s National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls is a gripping and vivid adaptation of JB Priestley’s classic thriller. Having won numerous awards, including the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design, and having played to over five million theatregoers, the show has now returned for a new UK tour, with the previous one in 2022 being a record-breaking sell-out.

Having lit the original production back in 1992, and all of its subsequent runs, Olivier and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Rick Fisher is once again part of the creative team and approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his rig; with the company having worked on the show since its original West End debut in 1995.

The play tells the story of Inspector Goole who arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home where th

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04 December 2024

USA - New Hampshire-based LD Brian Courchine, designer at the well-known Northland Music and Arts Festival, has made a career out of studying the inexorable connection between music and colour.

Courchine recently designed the lightshow for a sold-out concert at Infinity Hall in Hartford by Pink Talking Fish. Among the more successful tribute bands, Pink Talking fish combines the music of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish, each evoking a different aura – and each lending itself to a different palette. Adding a little extra spice to this particular evening was the healthy serving of Beatles songs thrown into the set.

Following the music with his colour rendering skills, Courchine immersed each song in hues that fit it like a glove. “I try to make a distinction between the three musical acts in the Pink Talking Fish show,” he explained. “Talk

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04 December 2024

USA - Astera will introduce QuikSpot, a flexible and innovative battery-powered LED lighting fixture designed to meet the demands of fast-paced environments in big events and media productions.

The QuikSpot fixture, a zoomable single-source spotlight, draws inspiration from the efficient workflow and convenient housing of Astera’s AX5 PAR light, while taking advantage of the optical quality of Titan LED Engine's PlutoFresnel.

QuikSpot’s whole design is optimised to save time and effort when both prepping and operating the product, making it a solution for busy rental and production companies.

Featuring Astera’s Titan LED Engine, the QuikSpot offers a 13º-60º zoom range, high colour rendering and a refined, homogenized and powerful "one-shadow" Fresnel optical system. These capabilities ensure a superior RGBMA colour spectrum, ideal fo

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03 December 2024

France - Ayrton, which has recently undergone a major expansion of its headquarters in Villebon-Sur-Yvette, south of Paris, showcased its new showroom and immersive museum with a series of events in November.

Over a two-week period, four events saw over 450 international guests, distributors, partners and lighting designers gather to immerse themselves in designs, innovative lighting solutions, and a world of creativity to inspire their next projects.

The new 1,200m2 x 8.5m high wide-format demonstration room, complete with luxurious theatre seating, provided the ideal forum to discover all of Ayrton’s products, while the immersive museum showcases the luminaires that have made Ayrton’s history. Guests were treated to cocktail receptions and dinner in the breakout rooms at every event which gave ample opportunity to network, ask questions and mak

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03 December 2024

Middle East - Procom Middle East has been appointed exclusive Zactrack distribution partner in the GCC and Lebanon.

Stephan Saremba, managing director of Zactrack International comments: “We are excited about joining forces with Procom and we are looking forward to this partnership. Both companies have a clear focus on providing high-quality products, excellent customer service and solutions to address customer needs in the various markets we are active in.

“With the commitment and expertise of Procom we are aiming to strengthen relationships with existing Zactrack users as well as expand into new markets. We are thrilled to welcome Procom to the Zactrack family and jointly grow the Middle East market with Zactrack solutions.”

"We have seen the demand for tracking solutions precede the product offerings available, and we are happy to ma

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03 December 2024

USA - We Belong Here has been uniting EDM lovers on Miami's Virginia Key Beach for the past three years, and has now hosted its first-ever festival experience in New York City amid Central Park’s lush greenery and panoramic skyline views.

Held October 4-6 at historic Wollman Rink, design collective Datum Creative built a fully immersive 360° experience for festival-goers, including a stunning visual tribute to the city’s skyline using Elation Pulse Bar strobe and effect lights. 

The We Belong Here festival, known for offering an intimate, distraction-free music experience with its ‘no video’ policy, provided Datum Creative the opportunity to design a stage that was as visually impactful as the panoramic views surrounding it. On the southern end of Central Park, the lighting and production team utilised a series of 26 staggered trus

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03 December 2024

UK - The Last Dinner Party, the all-female quintet winners of the Brits Rising Star honour at this year’s Brit Awards, wraps their theatrical sound around a flamboyant stage persona. For the band’s current tour, Ed Warren has delivered a show that engages the audience with distinctive flourishes.

The backdrop was adorned with a crescent moon and velvety clouds. It was hand painted by artist Beth Quinton, then scanned and digitally printed onto cloth with a definition so fine that it looks like a highly textured, hand-painted work.

Warren accents this beguiling backdrop with a variety of lighting effects that shade the image it projects. But, at other times, he blocks it out altogether with brilliant outpourings of light. “Just because a backdrop is there doesn’t mean you need to light it the whole time,” he observed. “A blackout moment is

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03 December 2024

USA - Robe returns to Las Vegas for LDI 2024 where the moving light manufacturer will be launching two new products, the T.5 Profile – a smaller version of the T1 – and the LedPointe, the new LED member of the Pointe family.

Also highlighted are four more new products seen for the first time at a US trade show – the iForte Fresnel, the Painte Fresnel, the SVOPATT and the SVB1.

Robe’s new expo live show, The Fifth Dimension, features ‘three live performers, jaw-dropping action and plenty of imagination’.

Robe’s other businesses – architectural and LED lighting manufacturer Anolis; UK-based lighting console and media server manufacturer Avolites; Australian-based power distribution gurus LSC Control Systems; and lighting control and integration solutions specialist Artistic License – will all be located on adjacent st

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03 December 2024

USA - Mega-Lite will showcase its latest products at the LDI Show. Visit Mega Systems at booth #2283, next to the Circle Bar, for the launch of five new products from the Mega-Lite family and the latest innovations from Mega Systems Inc.

Guillermo Cabada, head of marketing at Mega-Lite, said: "We are excited to be part of this year’s LDI and can’t wait to see all our customers and friends. We look forward to creating new friendships as we release five new products this year.”

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03 December 2024

USA/Europe - City Theatrical’s DMXcat-E is now shipping. The device is an expansion to City Theatrical’s DMXcat Multi Function Test Tool system of solutions that allows for Ethernet control of a lighting fixture.

In addition to all the functions DMXcat users currently enjoy, including utilisation of the DMXcat free smartphone application for iPhone and Android to plan, install, operate, and maintain theatrical and studio lighting equipment, DMXcat-E allows users to view and send Ethernet protocols, including ArtNet and Streaming ACN (sACN).

The DMXcat-E also allows users to perform cable testing of five-pin XLR and Ethernet cables. DMXcat-E can read SMPTE timecode as well as MIDI timecode and regular MIDI for audio and other entertainment projects. DMXcat-E allows for bookmarking of timecode as well as the ability to save a file for sharing and n

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02 December 2024

Europe - The ADJ Group of Companies has expanded its European headquarters in Kerkrade, the Netherlands. The ADJ Group includes ADJ Lighting, Acclaim Lighting, Duratruss, Elation and Obsidian Control Systems.

The new three-story Hall 4 building connects to the company’s existing facility and is now home to expanded R&D, QC, Service and Spare Parts departments. This substantial investment has been made to better serve customers through increased order processing capacity, expanded quality control, improved logistics, enhanced service, and ultimately greater innovation. Demonstrating the company’s commitment to the environment, the new building also features an extensive solar power installation capable of generating a large proportion of the electricity required to run the entire site.

“This is a significant project for the ADJ Group in Euro

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29 November 2024

Europe - The Pixera media server by AV Stumpfl is the backbone of Projektil’s latest Eonarium tour, an immersive projection mapping project that merges digital artistry with historic architecture across 30 churches and cultural sites in Europe.

AV Stumpfl’s real-time media processing, compositing and management system seamlessly handles the stunning visuals that bring these sacred spaces to life, transforming each venue into a canvas of light and sound.

The Eonarium Experiences tour, organised by the Zurich-based Projektil artist collective, comprises a series of immersive 360° light and sound shows in historic churches across Europe. Each 30- to 45-minute experience transforms the sacred places with digital artistry, transporting audiences into magnificent visual journeys that honour both the locations and the art.

By

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28 November 2024

Germany - On 9 November, the city of Berlin – representing the entire country – celebrated the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Instead of a central celebration at the Brandenburg Gate, this time it decided on a decentralised concept with five stages. In addition, 5,000 posters, designed by Berliners, lined up in a row to trace the course of the former wall.

The artistic collective phase7 performing.arts, led by Sven Sören Beyer, was responsible for the creative concept of the celebrations on behalf of Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH. Flo Erdmann was entrusted with the lighting design of the large main stage at the Brandenburg Gate (design by Sven Sören Beyer and Janik Albrecht), as well as the four side stages at the Futurium, Checkpoint Charlie, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Potsdamer Platz.

The stage production thus stretched over 4km throu

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28 November 2024

Luxembourg - Lemon Event Support is a creative event production company based in Luxembourg. The company started as a sound and lighting rental company in 2009 and in 2014 joined forces, skills and resources with video content production specialist Moast Creative Studio. Lemon Event Support grew, developed and enjoyed success delivering multiple events.

The first Robe moving light products onboard were Pointes. They were soon followed by VIVA CMYs, LEDBeam 150s, LEDWash 300s, LEDWash600+s, LEDBeam 350s and, most recently, T1 Profiles.

The fusion of the two companies enabled the provision of full design and production packages, with a separation also maintained within the structure, allowing each to work alone or together as needed, therefore embracing a greater range of clients. With the core of Lemon & Moast’s work being in the high-end corpor

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28 November 2024

Europe - UB40 recently completed their eight-city UK leg of the Red Red Wine tour, which ended 23 November at Belfast’s SSE Arena. Lighting designer Martin Dudley, owner of Martin’s Lights, is bringing the band closer to the audience through some adroit fixture placement, and the inspired use of Chauvet Professional.

“The Strike 4s are on the front truss as good old-fashioned crowd blinders, and the Rogue R2X washes are in three sets of four fixtures on the floor, one set behind each band riser,” detailed Dudley. “As everyone knows, there’s a lot of crowd participation in a UB40 show, so the blinders help the audience become part of things, in addition to helping the band see who they are singing to.

“On this tour, the Rogue washes do a lot of traditional ACL-style looks from the floor. Of course, with the Rogues, we’re able

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27 November 2024

The Netherlands - The Dutch National Opera & Ballet has selected 13 ETC Prodigy P2 stage machinery hoists and 32 ColorSource V fixtures for its Studio Boekman theatre.

ETC dealer Ampco Flashlight Sales worked on the installation and supplied the equipment, which includes P2-300kg hoists and ColorSource V luminaires; 20 ColorSource Spot V and 12 ColorSource Fresnel V fixtures.

The Dutch National Opera & Ballet – the largest theatre production house in the Netherlands – transformed a former municipality space into Studio Boekman, a premier black box theatre in Amsterdam. The Dutch National Opera & Ballet has a reputation for excellence and a commitment to innovation. Its investment in ETC’s products aligns with the venue’s efforts to use advanced technology and improve their efficiency.

Technical director at the National Ope

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27 November 2024

France - The closing ceremony of the 2024 WorldSkills Competition was staged in the 60,000-capacity Parc Olympique Lyonnais (OL Stadium) at the Eurexpo complex, Lyon, with Paris-based creative agency Concept K providing full scenography, lighting design, laser effects, video and art direction plus show calling.

Concept K’s artistic director Frédéric ‘Aldo’ Fayard was the closing ceremony’s show director, working closely on the lighting side with Theo Cannone who programmed and took on a lighting DoP role, ensuring that everything worked on camera for the broadcast and livestream channels.

The lighting specification included 72 iForte LTX and 150 MegaPointe moving lights among other fixtures, chosen for their power and versatility.

The Concept K team collaborated closely with event production company La Franco European Image

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27 November 2024

UK - The spectacular new production of the musical Mary Poppins is currently embarking on a UK and Ireland tour. Presented by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney Theatrical Group, this record-breaking show recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and continues to dazzle audiences on a nightly basis. Starring Stefanie Jones and Jack Chambers as Mary Poppins and Bert, it features a lighting design by Hugh Vanstone who approached White Light (WL), a d&b solutions company, to supply his touring lighting rig; with the company having also supplied the show’s first UK tour back in 2008.

As lighting designer, Vanstone finds himself returning to the show once again, having first lit a West End run five years ago. He comments: “When I first became involved in 2019 at the Prince Edward Theatre, it was in a ‘revival schedule’ so I had to tailor my ambitio