New Zealand - At the heart of the new retail departures area at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand is Pou Manawa, a huge tree of architectural fabric onto which colour and traditional Maori designs are reflected using Martin Exterior 410 wash lights and Martin smartMAC image projecting moving heads.

Ignite Architects developed the idea of a 'heart' space - an interactive and engaging area that people could gravitate to - and, as much of the imagery symbolizing what New Zealanders hold dear is focused on trees, the Pou Manawa was born.

"We had an exhaustive period of early testing to get the best fixture for the projection," says Chris McKenzie of Martin distributor Kenderdine Electrical. "We had other colour changing fixtures specified but when the Exterior 410s became available we changed the specification to use them. The 410s were the perfect solut

Theatre Figures - The West End enjoyed record box office sales in 2011 for an eighth consecutive year, according to figures released by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT). Takings topped £528.3m in 2011 - up 3.1% on a like-for-like basis on the previous year. Due to the closure of a number of theatres while new shows were set up, the overall attendance was 13.9m - down 1.73% on 2010. According to SOLT, though, the average audience at each performance was up. The Society said the growth in sales could be attributed to sell-out productions such as Matilda the Musical and the continued success of Les Miserables, now in its 26th year.

"We are extremely proud that our theatres have yet again gone on to achieve another record-breaking year of sales," said SOLT president Mark Rubinstein. "Despite the prevailing rigours of the economic climate, theat

Kazakhstan - The country marked its 20th year of independence on 1 December and President Nazarbayev chose the day to celebrate the inauguration of the fully renovated Republic Palace, the biggest concert hall in Almaty.

Begun only six months earlier, the renovation features a completely new design that includes the latest in Martin Professional lighting technology, a refurbishment that has raised the venue's profile to a "must visit" stop in central Asia.

Lighting designer for the anniversary show was François Guillet of Lumières Utiles who travelled from France to give life to the beautiful auditorium via the Martin rig.

Lighting and sound equipment was entrusted to APM Group, Martin Professional's distributor in Kazakhstan. Head of APM, CEO Maxim Vostrov, chose a large Martin package of 14 MAC III Profiles, 24 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 110 MAC 700 Profiles, 80 MAC 70

Europe - LED lighting fixture manufacturer Prism Projection has appointed UK-based entertainment lighting specialist White Light as its exclusive distributor for all of Europe.

The agreement, reached following discussions at last year's LDI Show, expands White Light's involvement with Prism Projection; White Light has served as Prism's exclusive UK distributor for the last few years, during which time Prism's RevEAL range - CW washlight, Studio washlight and Profile spotlight - have been chosen for a number of new UK lighting installations.

"We're thrilled that Prism have entrusted us with looking after their products across Europe," comments White Light's sales director, Peter Threadgold. "We knew their products were something special from the first moment we saw them at LDI 2009; more importantly we knew the people behind the products were special, with a diff

South Africa - For the second consecutive year, Dreamsets provided the full technical production for Miss South Africa and Miss Teen held at Sun City's Superbowl venue. Lighting designer from the company, Mauritz Jacobs, has worked on the show at least five times before, and for this year's edition, he used a grandMA2 full-size as well as an MA VPU plus (Video Processing Unit).

The set and show was designed by Dewet Meyer and probably the largest challenge for lighting was having 96 LED screens to work with, which was simultaneously also Mauritz's highlight. He was impressed with MA System's integrated MA VPU: "It's like having an additional fixture, changing colours, shapes, images, etc - all at the touch of a button."

Dreamsets had two days to set up for the Miss Teen competition, which utilised all the same equipment apart from the LED panels. These were added for

UK - Bradford-based New Vision Signs & Graphics has installed illuminated signage - among the largest it has ever produced - at the 786,000sq.ft warehousing facility of multi-channel retail group Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH) in Listerhhills, Bradford. Lettering for the sign at the FGH gatehouse on Thornton Road is 5m high and spans 6m between two vertical pillars.

Tony Stead, business development manager of New Vision in the city's Ventnor Street, said, "The project was challenging due to the scale of the signage and its position on the gatehouse structure. We called in a structural engineer to design the steel support frame.

"The letters are fabricated in steel and house low energy LED light modules, creating a subtle 'halo' illumination at night. The sign is very imposing and forms an impressive welcome to FGH's Listerhills site - both day and night.

"LED

France - The last G-20 Summit took place in Cannes, France in November 2011, and in order to achieve appropriate lighting conditions, 160 units of Elation's Opti Tri White LED PAR were installed. This fixture comes with Tri White technology and creates white light in cool, warm and amber shades.

Regardless of the shade of white, the light is extremely bright and flicker free making it suitable for major meeting surroundings as well as broadcast television, video production and general lighting. The 18 x 9 W 3-in-1 Tri SMD LEDs contained in the unit have a rated lamp life of 50,000 hours, and being LEDs they draw very little power and emit very little heat. Plus, thanks to its compact size, the Opti Tri White fits into standard 30 cm truss. So, meeting members can keep a cool head and will not be distracted.

"The Opti Tri White is one of the most versatile high performance

World - Have you worked on a complex or high profile project that you think others might be interested to hear about? Or solved a seemingly impossible lighting challenge? If so, then the organisers of Showlight 2013 would like to hear from you.

Showlight has always been regarded as one of the best networking events in the international lighting calendar, with a conference programme of around 25 papers presented by a real mix of industry people talking about their work and ideas. Supported by a focused exhibition of 40 companies, Showlight is fun and informative - no hard sells, no mind-numbing seminars and no hidden costs!

The programme of speakers covers the whole gamut of lighting genres - theatre, film, television, event and architectural - as well as the technical wizardry behind our trade. Since the first event in 1981, delegates have enjoyed hearing from those who are at

Europe - Leading European lighting designer, Belgian based Luc Peumans from Painting With Light, specified 62 of Robe's Robin 600 LEDWash fixtures for the current Holiday on Ice 'Speed' tour.

Peumans has designed lighting for the high energy ice extravaganza produced by Netherlands-based Stage Entertainment Touring Productions since 2005, and so this is now his seventh edition of the show.

The Robe fixtures - along with the rest of the lighting equipment - are being supplied by Belgian based rental company Phlippo Showlights MV.

Peumans has used Robe products before on some of his work, but this is the first time he has integrated such a large number of Robe fixtures into one of his creations, and the first time he has used the popular LEDWash 600.

Most of the Holiday on Ice tours will have a lifespan of three-five years, and so he was looking to replace a nu

World - 2011 was a big year for Swedish Pop duo Roxette as they embarked on their first world tour since 1995. Forming the backbone of LD Calle Brattberg's spirited lighting design were Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 Spot luminaires, supplied, for most of the tour, by Scandinavia's largest rental company of stage, lighting and sound equipment - Starlight.

So successful was the 2011 tour that this year Roxette will embark on yet another Round the World popfest with another 65 shows planned for 2012, and Brattberg will be with them. "The look for Roxette is fresh, sharp and vivid," explains Brattberg. "I wanted the lighting to work in synchronicity with the well-known, upbeat Roxette pop anthems. I also wanted the feel of the show to resonate with the ever faithful fans."

Lighting is indeed animated and colourful, however Brattberg has been careful to light

Germany - High End Systems has announced a recent upgrade to Modernes in Bremen. The popular live club for electronic and independent music is built in an old cinema with a huge dome, which can be opened to reveal the night air. The club has used six original trackspot fixtures from High End Systems for nearly 20 years. Recently however, they upgraded their system to the newly released trackspot Bolt LED luminaires.

Trackspot Bolt is a full-featured, 3000 lumen moving-mirror fixture powered by a LED lighting engine. .

Arcus Lighting, exclusive German distributor for High End Systems, delivered six trackspot Bolt luminaires to the company Active Blue, long time partner of the Modernes club who installed the new fixtures into the club.

Sascha Lembke of the Modernes and Jochen Rüttinger of Active Blue are impressed with the trackspot Bolt fixtures. Lembke commented, "The

Singapore - The opening of Avalon has been hyped as the most highly anticipated nightclub event in the region and also boasts the largest installation of Clay Paky Sharpy moving beam lights ever installed in a club.

Avalon is the brainchild of nightclub impresario Steve Adelman, and a legend behind many of the most famous nightspots of the past two decades. The club occupies the top two levels of the floating South Crystal Pavilion - a multi-faceted glass edifice designed by architect Moshe Safdie - and which forms part of the Marina Bay Sands complex.

The interior of the club is surrounded by glass walls and a ceiling which is 15m high at the point. The responsibility of overseeing the lighting, sound, and AV design was entrusted to Snipe Media, a Singapore-based design and consultancy company. Billy Magendran who helms Snipe Media, was called upon to come up with a solution

Canada - MDG has assumed responsibility for Robe sales activity across Canada, promoting and supporting the full range of Robe products including its HMI, tungsten and LED motorized spots, wash and PC spotlights, the famous Digital Series and its range of Lighting Effects. All Robe Architainment products, including the LED series, also fall within MDG's new remit.

Martin Michaud, president and CEO of MDG, states, "Our team is thoroughly delighted and thrilled to start promoting Robe in our country. MDG's philosophy of delivering personalized care and dedicated service to every single customer, combined with our portfolio of professional, top-of-the-line products meant the choice of Robe was easy. We had been on the lookout for a lighting product that would complement the prestigious array we already carry in Canada and Robe fits perfectly into that role."

"Altho

UK - Black Light has confirmed its appointment as an authorised reseller for Avolites.

"Avolites has recently reorganised and streamlined its distribution network, so we are delighted to have been confirmed as one of only four resellers for the UK," says Phil Haldane, Black Light's head of company development. "This is a real feather in our cap - one that reflects our commitment to the brand and our belief in the merits of its exceptional products."

"Avolites' gear is really versatile and is ideally suited for multi-purpose venues, says Calder Sibbald, Black Light's head of hires and events, who has worked with Avolites extensively including a period of product testing for the company at Edinburgh's Gilded Balloon venue.

"To back up our new role as an Avolites distributor we have increased our hire and sales stock of their products," Sibbal

USA - The Metropolitan Opera at New York City's Lincoln Centre has expanded its lighting inventory with the acquisition of four Robert Juliat Victor 1800W followspots as specified by Patrick Eagleton of Contemporary Lights & Staging, Stamford, Connecticut.

"The Met is all about quality and very particular about the products they buy, and the Robert Juliat name speaks for itself in that regard," says Fred Lindauer, of Robert Juliat. "The Met already has a number of RJ 2.5W Profiles in their inventory so they were very willing to consider Robert Juliat followspots for this new application."

The followspots had to be portable, easy to set up, and fit in the space reserved for them. In addition, they had to be very quiet since they would be located in the audience seating area. "After on-site tests the team at the Met loved the fact that the Victors operat

UK - Lighting designer Mark Kenyon specified nearly 90 Chauvet Professional fixtures for the set design on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.

Taking centre stage with show contestants in custom-finished chrome are six Q-Wash 560Z LED moving heads. The fixtures add eye candy to the set and complement the dancer's moves while punctuating performances with powerful beams of coloured light.

Additionally placed throughout the set are 50 COLORdash Batten Tri linear wash lights as well as 32 COLORado 1 Tour static wash lights. These fixtures provide vibrant, saturated washes from the back cyc and signature coloured arc design of the set to downlighting the main dance floor. All the Chauvet fixtures offer flicker-free performances from high-powered LEDs.

"The Q-Wash 560Z LED worked exceptionally well on stage," Mark Kenyon said. "They are extremely bright and at tim

The Netherlands - Sales-All BV, the recently-formed division of Benelux rental giants, Rent-All, provided a vibrant showcase for the new portfolio of SGM products at the recent CUE 2012 trade fair, held at Rotterdam's Ahoy.

Theatre and concert technicians - and other performing arts professionals - turned out at this bi-annual fair to see SGM's new suite of low-energy LED solutions, which formed the centrepiece of the Dutch company's sound and light presentation.

Sales-All's Bas van der Heiden, the man responsible for SGM sales, said the decision to exhibit at CUE 2012 for the first time had been well justified. "We dedicated a large part of our stand to SGM and visitors were really excited - particularly about the new X-5 (white LED) strobe and XC-5 (colour strobe). Many customers are now interested in selling these products as part of the full SGM range."

SGM con

UK - Busy UK-based lighting designer Derek Jones recently bought a Jands Vista S1 to help service his busy autumn season, including Cliff Richard's Soulicious tour and another with equally maverick performers, The Hollies.

With both tours overlapping Jones took his new Vista S1 out on The Hollies, while he called on Lars Kristiansen to operate Cliff Richard and the Shadows on his Vista S3.

Jones bought the Vista S3 some two years ago, and it has been on the road ever since. He has been running the next generation Vista v2 software since its launch and comments, "It's brilliant."

He has worked with The Hollies for the last six years. They tour twice a year for five weeks each, playing to completely sold out audiences in theatres and concert halls nationwide.

The lighting rig, supplied by Blackburn based Lite Alternative, consisted of a front and back truss

UK - Rental company, Visual Elements has upgraded 100 Chroma-Q Color Bloc DB4 LED fixtures in its inventory to the new Color Block Plus Replacement Engine.

The new engine utilises the latest generation of LED and optics, resulting in over two and a half times the light output - an impressive 750 lumens - of the original Color Block DB4 (290 lumens) with the internal switch set to full power.

Visual Elements is headed by Mike Townsend and is a busy provider of design and equipment rental services to corporate and live events. They have over 300 Color Block DB4s in their inventory, the first of which were purchased five years ago when the product was first launched, and they are still going strong today.

Townsend explains how the replacement engines have made a huge difference. "There is no comparison - it has completely transformed the fixture, giving them a new lease of

USA - Gateway Church is a Christian megachurch in Southlake, Texas, that opened a new campus in November of 2010 with a main auditorium that seats 4000. Gateway's lighting director Kyle Russelburg had three factors in mind when looking for a lighting system for the new facility: shooting for TV/web broadcast in HD, lighting for unique services, and hosting conferences throughout the year.

"We needed a lighting system that was going to hold up to the work load as well as a system that was flexible and would give us the ability to give us multiple design options," he explains. "Once I had the overall design down, we turned to Acoustic Dimensions to carry out the majority of the infrastructure and backbone."

Russelburg found what he was looking for in a large Martin Professional lighting system made up of 12 MAC III Profile, 16 MAC III Performance, six MAC 200

USA - With its expanding business into broadcast video and lighting, Elation Professional has appointed industry veteran Mark Haney as senior market manager of broadcast video and lighting. This new position focuses on the overall sales of Elation's LED video product, support and client relations.

Haney will have direct contact with Elation designers, dealers and installers, overseeing projects for the company's products in this market. Additionally, he will collect all market feedback for further developing Elation's growing broadcast video and lighting business, specifically with the company's LED video screens and expanded video and lighting product catalogue, as well as in the live touring and production segment.

Prior to coming to Elation, Haney was a sales director for Screenworks/NEP, a large video production company headquartered in California. He has served as a stage

Germany - For 20 years production designer Manfred Voss has been with the popular German TV game show, Wetten, dass..? (which translates as Wanna bet that...?).

The Road Hog Full Boar is in control of up to 16 Showpix pixilation luminaires and 12 Showgun 2.5automated luminaires for its broadcasts on ZDF TV throughout Europe. For Wetten, dass...?, Winkler AG in Switzerland is supplying the Road Hog Full Boars, DP8000s and Road Hog Wings, while Arcus Lighting in Germany is supplying the Showgunss and Showpix.

The show travels to different European cities setting up in a variety of venues from open air theatres to outdoor theme parks for live broadcasts. Celebrity guests, including musical groups, participate in the action, placing their bets on contestants who compete in crazy tasks such as: climbing a tower using toilet paper; flipping coins with a forklift

USA - Elation Professional Lighting, has entered into a licensing agreement with Litepanels, Inc. covering the use of the latter company's patented LED technology for broadcast, photographic and motion picture lighting production.

Under the terms of the agreement, Elation has been granted the rights to use Litepanels' patented LED technology for the primary illumination of subjects for image capturing in film and video. The patented Litepanel technology will be used in Elation lighting fixtures intended for television, film and video production applications such as the TVL2000.

Under the terms of its agreement with Litepanels, Inc., Elation will be able to use the patented technology in the products it sells in all of its markets. Elation maintains a policy of respecting the valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others.

A Vitec Company, Litepanels Inc. manufa

Qatar - Over 100 fixtures from PR Lighting were deployed recently at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park Inauguration in Doha. Situated alongside one of the most iconic buildings in the Qatari capital, the park offers panoramic views of the city.

The official opening was marked with a ceremony and concert in the presence of HH the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and included the launch of the world-class sculpture '7', by international artist Richard Serra. This 24m high creation is the first work of art produced by Serra to be displayed in the Arab region.

The ceremony was also attended by a number of Their Excellencies sheikhs, ministers and heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Qatar.

A temporary concert shell housed musicians from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra who performed Hughes de Courson's The Magic Lutes and prior to that a dramatic

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