USA - Famous lives are often the focus of exhibits at The National Museum of African American History and Culture and its neighbour, The National Museum of American History. But rarely do these two prestigious institutions, which are part of the Smithsonian complex, roll out the red carpet for heroes quite like those who were honoured this January at DC in DC. Held over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, the two-day event celebrated super heroes with the world premieres of the Black Lightning television programme and the animated Batman film Gotham by Gaslight. At the after party for the pop culture extravaganza, lighting designer Elizabeth A. Coco set an appropriately festive and glamorous tone with a sparkling atmosphere. Adding to the ambience was the colourful uplighting she did at both museums with a collection of Chauvet Professional WELL Fit
UK - Using SGM’s P-5s, director of Teknique Systems Ltd., Tony Kennedy, created a magnificent colour changing lighting system on the exterior of the most popular museum in Glasgow, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. “We chose to add 18 SGM P-5 fixtures because we wanted to use a quality LED fixture that was reliable, energy saving, and compact,” said Kennedy, who worked on the installation together with City Building Glasgow. With over 40 years of industry experience, Kennedy designed a new cost-effective lighting system with a wireless pre-programmed control system, enabling the staff to easily colour change the building for special events. “Our vision was to upgrade the existing lighting to a new modern LED system that would allow our client to keep the lighting colour temperature the same as the old fixtures, but have the advantage to be able to
USA - With beta testing complete, X-Laser USA’s Mercury now includes firmware updates and fixture profiles supporting major lighting control platforms such as Avolites, ChamSys, grandMA, Martin (M-Series and LightJockey), Jands Vista, Elation, and more. X-Laser’s Mercury laser control interface is also now available in X-Laser’s five, 10, 20, 30 and 50-watt Skywriter fixtures. “We’ve absorbed feedback from several professional lighting and laser designers, regarding Mercury and how we can make it the most useful to the most people in the live design world,” Adam Raugh, president of X-Laser USA, said. “With that feedback, we have created several training videos, new console profiles and plenty of visual material to show designers new and exciting ways to integrate laser more deeply into their shows." Professional lighting designer Daniel Maxwell of True
USA - Showtime Sound LLC, Kevin Hart’s regular production company, recently met the challenge of a special in-the-round setup for his New Year’s Eve appearance at Orlando’s 10,000-seat CFE Arena. This challenge was tackled with help from Chauvet Professional Rogue and Nexus fixtures. “There are different situations to deal with when you have a 360° open stage,” said Zack Bunner, head lighting tech at Showtime Sound. “We were able to use the fixtures in our rig to create a sense of space onstage, surrounding Kevin with light without interfering with the connection you get from the open layout. Working closely together with Kevin’s lighting director Ken Delvo, Showtime project manager Brett Angstadt did an excellent job designing the rig so we could achieve the balance we were looking for.” The team from Showtime used 12 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures and 16 Ne
USA - Bandit Lites kicked off its 50th year with its Annual General Meeting, a gathering of all Bandits from around the country to commemorate the previous year’s successes, laud those with significant anniversaries and outstanding service and to devise the groundwork for the upcoming year’s projects. Among the performers and speakers for the day’s event were Republic Records recording artist and 2016 The Voice winner, Chris Blue, American radio host, Hallerin Hilton Hill, and Bandit founder and chair, Michael T. Strickland, who shared his continued vision of Bandit’s focus on excellence. Chris performed several songs, including his new hit single, Blue Blood Blues. Allison Burchett (director of philanthropy and project manager), Sharon Gross (Media relations coordinator) and Brad Hylton (warehouse manager) all celebrated five years of service wit
UK - The first of many seamless updates to Current RMS scheduled for 2018, January saw the release of Choosing Accessories, the most voted for idea on Current’s Customer Wishlist. This new update gives users even more of a chance to forward plan their stock allocation and ensure the right accessories are on a job when they need them. When selecting products to add to a job, Current now shows the individual accessories linked to these products, plus their real-time availability, all on one screen. “When I read the update message I was delighted! Choosing Accessories is already streamlining the quoting process, but also ensuring that prep lists in the warehouse are fully correct,” says Neil Walker, from Surrey-based events planning agency MGN Events. Neil and his team have used Current RMS for over two years to manage their business, hiring a range of decor, furnit
Europe - Croatian rockers Parni Valjak were the first in Croatia to benefit from Robe’s new MegaPointe luminaires, as part of a batch just purchased by technical production company Promo Logistika. Twenty-two of the fixtures were part of an eye-catching lighting rig designed by Miro Hrg for a special gig by the band at the 18,000 capacity Zagreb Arena. In fact, Miro’s design was all Robe in the moving light department! He also utilised 20 x BMFL Spots onstage plus another two – at the back of the arena for follow spots – together with 12 x LEDWash 600s and eight MMX WashBeams. Also new from Robe in the Promo Logistika rental inventory were 16 x LEDBeam 150s positioned in the stage wings to illuminate audience in front of the corner areas and also fire across those at the front of the arena. Miro designed lighting, video and set for this large, high profil
USA - After visiting the award-winning holiday light show Illumination at the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago a couple of years ago, Descanso Gardens asked lighting and visual design group Lightswitch to create and realise a new winter nighttime experience designed to attract guests and increase the popularity of the historic Southern California botanical gardens. This year marked the second year Lightswitch has designed Enchanted Forest of Light at Descanso Gardens and the fifth year of Illumination at Morton Arboretum, creating visually stunning and memorable experiences using a bevy of Elation Professional fixtures, including the company’s award-winning IP65 -rated Proteus arc-source moving heads. Lightswitch was responsible for lighting design and creative direction for Enchanted Forest of Light and Lightswitch principal Chris Medv
USA - Animals As Leaders were eager to co-headline a tour with fellow progressive metal stars Periphery. The two bands share a similar philosophy of music making, and both feature ample amounts of outstanding guitar virtuosity. Having performed multiple one-offs together, they also connected on a personal level. But joining forces on the 24-city Convergence tour, which concluded in early December, did present a challenge for Animals As Leaders lighting designer Victor Zeiser of Squeek Lights. Sharing the stage meant the band needed a rig that could be set up and taken away quickly. At the same time, since Animals As Leaders would be playing larger venues than on its previous tour, Zeiser needed a lightshow with greater output. The New York-based LD came up with a solution that balanced mobility and brightness with help from 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 Washes tha
New Zealand - On Auckland Anniversary Weekend, on 27 Saturday January, Auckland Harbour Bridge was transformed by the launch of Vector Lights – featuring a renewable energy technology powered light show that ignited imaginations and demonstrated a smarter way to power the city. The cutting-edge installation is designed, managed, installed and programmed by internationally-acclaimed Mandylights, vividly demonstrating the new lighting capabilities and a smarter way to power Auckland as part of a 10-year smart energy partnership between Vector Limited and Auckland Council. The audio-visual performance is made up of three chapters – the first references Tama-Nui te Ra (the sun), the original source of energy, and the second Hikohiko (electrical energy) representing it as energy and technology, and the final Hei te Ao Marama (the future world of light) as an acknowledge
The Netherlands - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd will demonstrate how it provides all the products, advice and support needed to install fully integrated lighting & AV systems – at ISE 2018. Chroma-Q's multi award-winning Inspire house lights and Color Force II wash lights, plus Color One 100X PAR, deliver high quality colour-changing saturates, pastels and a pure white - for a truly immersive, seamlessly integrated lighting experience in auditoria, performance venues, houses of worship and other public spaces. Also featured is the award-winning Space Force LED providing variable white soft-lighting. Other lighting includes Quasar Science's new RGB-X Rainbow Linear Lamp, which provides full colour-changing and variable white looks in a low profile, self-ballasted LED source suitable for everything from traditional three point subject lighting to gen
USA - Located on the banks of the Black Warrior River, the Tuscaloosa River Market is an open-air farmers’ market and multi-use public facility which hosts weddings, rehearsal dinners, civic gatherings and more. Originally opened in 2012, the market has continued to grow in popularity with multiple events typically scheduled each week throughout the year Now needing a more high-powered digital display to better inform visitors of the upcoming events, the Tuscaloosa River Market called upon the design team at The ESB Group who created a bright and colourful digital display using FLEXLite NXG LED video from PixelFLEX. “The market has been open for approximately five years now, and they had been relying a projector and screen system that was really only effective during the twilight hours,” began Patrick Sobers, The ESB Group design engineer. “As a multi-use publi
Belgium - Not many musicians can claim to have the relentless creative output of Belgian artist Maarten Devoldere. When he's not performing and recording with his award-winning band, Baltazar, Devoldere pushes the musical envelope as the main singer songwriter of his own solo side-project, Warhaus. To mark the release of Warhaus' second album in October of this year, Devoldere brought in Belgian design masters Arf&Yes to craft a powerful yet minimal stage setup for a supporting European tour. Central to Arf&Yes' visual design were six Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures that are used to illuminate the stage’s central focal point, a custom-made embossed wall of pyramids. Serving as a backdrop to Devoldere and his band, the pyramid brings an aesthetic element to the stage. The vibrant colours and punchy wash effects of the Maverick MK2 fixtures, po
UK - Light artist Philippe Morvan and programmer Émilien Guesnard relied on the power and feature set of Avolites' Titan Mobile console to realise one of the highlight installations of this year's Lumiere London Festival, which took place in January. Morvan's DOT installation, which was located at St Pancras Square in London's Kings Cross, was the latest in a series of light installations by the French designer, whose work has been seen across the world. Characterised by the synchronisation of light and music, Morvan's designs engage the viewer with geometric, abstract patterns and pulses of movement. As with all Morvan's creations, DOT's deceptively simple result masked a complex creative process, helped in no small measure by Avolites' Titan Mobile. "It was a long process," confirms Morvan. "I wanted to create something organic, smooth and
Belgium - Luc Peumans of Genk-based international design practice Painting with Light designed the lighting The Little Mermaid as it was staged in Belgium for the first time. Lighting equipment was delivered by Benelux rental company Phlippo Showlights together with audio and rigging. The RoboSpot system was tech’d by Ilse Witlox, also the lead operator, who is an expert in the somewhat ‘black art’ of follow spotting. Precise follow-spotting was absolutely crucial to a complex and visually rich production like this. The 11 x BMFL Blades complete with 11 RoboSpot MotionCameras were positioned on a front truss, an advanced truss and on two side trusses. Six on the front truss were positioned as three on the left and three on the right; the three on the advanced truss (‘behind’ the front truss and above the audience) were in the left, right and cen
USA - The new Ovation SP-300CW offers the efficiency of LED technology in a bright professional-level followspot fixture. Powered by a 260-watt 5500K cool white LED engine, and featuring a 10°-20° zoom, the high-output fixture is designed to provide mid-sized venues with a practical, reliable and cost-effective followspot solution. “Theatres, churches, and other mid-sized venues will find that the Ovation SP-300CW offers them all the benefits of LED technology in a high-output followspot that produces a crisp cool white beam,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “We also added quite a few user-friendly features to this fixture.” Among the standout features of the Ovation SP-300CW are its fully closeable iris, which allows more precise lighting control. The new followspot also has on-board linear dimming, as well as smooth manual sliders for zoom, and a foc
USA - Nashville-based Elite Multimedia has announced the addition of lighting solutions from Chauvet, Martin and GLP into its rental inventory. With the delivery of Maverick MK PyXis, Rouge R2 Wash, and Epix Strip IP from Chauvet; Atomic 3000 LED from Martin; as well as X4 Bar luminaires from GLP, the new inventory is now available through the Nashville office of the live event and tour provider. “Anytime we have the opportunity to strengthen the breadth of lighting solutions we can offer our clients, we are very excited to do so,” stated Jason ‘Cannonball’ Jenkins, Elite Multimedia director of operations. “So often today, we have designers who are wanting a multitude of design possibilities from their lighting rigs, and the acquisition of this gear from these three manufacturers now gives them even more creative options.” The award-winning Chauvet Maveri
South Africa - DWR Distribution has announced a training course presented by Joshua Cutts and Christopher Bolton of Collective Works. Production Design - The Responsibility of a modern-day designer will be held from 20-22 February from 9am to 5pm. The three-day course will cover topics such as an Introduction to Design, Hands-on Design Workshop, Console and Layout Planning, Programming for Music, Colour Theory, Networking and Protocols, Media Servers and Show Integration, Pixel Mapping and Timecode Programming. As leaders in their field, Josh and Chris will also share programming tips and tricks. Hosted at DWR Distribution in Laserpark, Honeydew, the cost is R2 880.00 per delegate and includes light refreshments and lunch.Bookings can be made on line. (Jim Evans)
USA - Each year, Inc. Magazine publishes its list of the 5000 fastest-growing publicly held small companies in the U.S. and follows the announcement with a black-tie awards ceremony at the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala. To land on Inc’s list is not only public recognition that a company is on a successful track, it also serves as a source of pride for up-and-coming companies. The Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala gathering brings some of the nation's most successful business minds together to celebrate the companies that appear on the prestigious ranking. The 10th anniversary edition of the conference was held 10-12 October at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Springs, California, with the black tie awards ceremony capping the three-day event on the final night. J. Thor Productions, a growing live event production company based near Tampa,
USA - Seminal horror punk rock band and at The Forum in Los Angeles with a pair of high-octane shows guaranteed to please fans of the iconic musicians. Lighting designer/Director Jason Cain selected Claypaky Mythos2 and Sharpy Wash fixtures for the back-to-back arena shows. “The Misfits are the reason we have Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Rob Zombie,” says Cain, who is also an account representative at Gemini LSV (Light Sound Video) in Dallas, which provided the lights. For the shows featuring long-time band members Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Cain wanted lights that delivered “a lot of output, were quick and able to strobe saturated colours. Both the Mythos2 and Sharpy Washes delivered that: They were pretty raw and powerful.” The Misfits’ stage was outfitted with a 40x20ft 6mm LED videowall, a pair of 13ft tall prop
Europe - Claypaky has introduced to the market its new LED spot fixture, the Axcor Profile 900. The unit is powered by a 880W white LED light engine and achieves 46,000 lumen (24,000 lumen output) with a 6,500 K colour temperature, while an optional high-CRI (>90) light engine produces 34,000 lumen (17,500 lumen output) and a 5,600K colour temperature. The beam produced by the Axcor Profile 900 is described as dense and evenly distributed for the entire length of the beam, at any beam angle in its zoom range of 7-40 degrees, and its CMY colour mixing system uses gradual-insertion dichroic wheels supported by a linear CTO correction device to produce perfectly smooth transitions between colours. A separate colour wheel carries six professional colour filters, including a custom-designed CRI enhancement filter. When exhibited at LDI 2017 in Las Vegas in November, the
The Netherlands - Architectural and installation LED lighting manufacturer Anolis will showcase a mix of new and existing product ranges on stand 7-X195 at the 2018 Integrated Systems Europe Exhibition (ISE) at Amsterdam’s RAI. The stand will be shared with Robe Lighting. Anolis will highlight its Ambiane downlight luminaires, the first in a new range of specialist high performance fixtures that bring dynamics and colour to any ambient lighting scenario. There will also be a focus on the new ArcLine Outdoor DVP (Direct View Pixel); the ArcPix, a robust pixel-mapping solution and the super punchy little Arc Dot, also ideal for matrix effects and kinetic media projects. The striking booth design itself will incorporate Ambiane, DVP, ArcDot and ArcPix into an elegant showcase, also giving visitors an idea of how the products can look in situ. Robe will show
UK - Following the success of their last show A Christmas Carol, Voice of the Show were back in 2017 with The Adventures of Pinocchio. Based on the original book by Carlo Collodi, David Mansell directed and adapted the tale into a magical family performance which follows the naughty puppet on his many adventures and begins on Christmas Eve in toy maker, Geppetto’s workshop (played by Guy Siner). The Little Theatre by the Park in Chesham played home to the dark family fable for 19 shows throughout December, boasting West End-worthy lighting designs and a small but talented cast. At the heart of the lighting rig were four Chauvet DJ Intimidator hybrids, six Chauvet Professional Q-Wash 436Zs, four Rogue R2 Spots and eight ETC Source 4 Junior fixtures that were evenly positioned around the circular stage. Both Rogue R2 Spots and Intimidator hybrids were c
USA - The 2018 Bounce Trumpet Awards were held on 20 January at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre with a lighting package supplied by Bandit Lites. 2018 honourees were Jermaine Dupri, Richelieu Dennis, Tamika Mallory, Marley Dias, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, Rhyon Brown and Cameo. The evening featured performances from Arrested Development, Michel’le and Major along with a musical tribute to So So Def Recordings founder and honoree Jermaine Dupri which included performances from Anthony Hamilton, Bow Wow, Xscape and a surprise appearance by Ludacris. Using over 180 fixtures from Bandit Lites, lighting designer Bob Peterson crafted looks that would translate both for those in attendance at the live awards and for those who would be watching at home. HES SolaSpot 2000 Framings provided reconfigurable, automated key lights from the rail and first electric, while Rob