Belgium - Lighting design firm Radiance35, in collaboration with the ZimmerFrei artists' collective, created Through the Walls, an award-winning, artistic lighting installation in the Saint-Jacques district of the city (near Brussels' Grand-Place). The key idea from the artist was to project imaginary openings onto the facades of the buildings in order to engage the curiosity and imagination of those walking by and help them envision present-day spaces, interiors and places of life and work inside the district's beautiful medieval structures.

The Saint-Jacques district of Brussels is characterised by its urbanism and is one of the best preserved medieval communities in Europe. The designers at Radiance35 projected 20 Rosco custom glass gobos throughout the neighbourhood to highlight the district's architectural identity, attract attention and encourage visitors to explore

Germany - Based on the award-winning impression Spot One, GLP has produced a smaller, lighter and less expensive version, known as the Volkslicht Spot - aimed at a wider fixed installation and rental customer base.

Explaining the design rationale, GLP GmbH CEO, Udo Kuenzler, states, "The Spot One has proven a big success in long throw applications but we believe the Volkslicht Spot will appeal to entertainment venues, corporate event spaces, cruise ships, theme parks and houses of worship who don't require the same throw distance. With a single fixed beam of 15 degrees, the Volkslicht Spot has been able to maintain a powerful output despite its compact footprint and reduced price."

This is because the fixture features a 300W RGB LED engine which offers high output through an efficient optical system with clear gobo projection, even field distribution and smooth dimmi

West London based lighting and visuals rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment is supplying lighting for the first full production tour by chart-topping indie rockers Bastille, who are rapidly ascending stars with their first album Bad Blood and lighting designed by Will Dart.

Earlier in the year Colour Sound provided a specials package for the summer festival season and as soon as this UK leg of the tour kicked in, the production requirements increased to include supplying a full system. Dart has worked with Colour Sound for the last couple of years and comments, "They are an excellent supplier in all aspects."

Dart sat down with the band ahead of the tour and they talked through several ideas - of which there were plenty!

Projection was a large element of the show for the UK leg- although used very judiciously - so the lighting had to compliment this and also t

USA - When LeRoy Bennett started specifying SGM's X-5 LED strobes early this summer, he not only had Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in mind but also the hard industrial sounds of Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails.

The deployment of 144 heads on NIN's world arena and festival shows, he believed would contribute to a production that was "visually high art minded". Returning to the stage after a long break the band's mentor for the last 25 years, Trent Reznor, introduced a new line-up to promote the band's eighth album, Hesitation Marks.

During production rehearsals at the LA Sports Arena Bennett had worked alongside production manager Chris Fussell, art director Rob Sheridan and conceptual artist Jon Morris, with the intention of "beefing up" the festival production and creating an interactive set, with video walls - adding the SGM strobe

UK - PRG (Production Resource Group UK) has become the latest high profile lighting hire company to invest heavily in SGM's new generation LED fixtures.

They have purchased 46 of the P-5 RGBW wash lights for their busy Autumn and pre-Christmas outdoor season, as part of a general LED inventory upgrade.

Paul Weaver, head of EU asset management, says the company has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with SGM over the years, and this marks the latest chapter. "We have had SGM in stock for the last eight to ten years, using the Palco 3 as our standard weatherproof LED flood but it was time to update our stock."

Says Weaver, "Since the introduction of the new SGM, and Peter [Johansen] coming on board, the company has become really interesting again and there are exciting products coming through such as G-Spot. We see the P-5 as an investment for the long t

Germany - PR Lighting's PR 5000 Framing fixtures have been adopted for the Autumn season opera productions of the famous Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Germany, which combines both the Opera Düsseldorf and Theater Duisburg.

Ordered from Focon Showtechnic, PR Lighting's German distributors, the PR-5000 Framing fixtures were chosen as offering the best quality to price ratio, comparable with the leading professional models in terms of performance.

Specified by lighting and video director, Volker Weinhart (and used by other guest lighting directors), the fixtures, driven by 1500W discharge lamp, will also form part of the theatre's opera and ballet touring inventory, where they will be used on all productions across the world, 300 days of the year. In fact the Opera and Ballet company is one of the largest in Europe with 870 employees including two symphony orchestras with 220 musici

UK - The MTFX Snow Tower is the latest and most versatile snow making machine in the MTFX winter effects range. Featuring two MTFX mini evaporative snow blowers mounted on a height adjustable tower, this machine is perfect for creating amazing and realistic outdoor falling snow.

The snow tower is mounted to a towable trailer making for easy transportation and can be raised to a maximum height of 9m. The unit is completely self-contained as it is powered by an internal hush-quiet generator.

It is designed for TV snow effects, Christmas light switch on events, outdoor attractions, product launches and so much more.

(Jim Evans)

USA - From the people who created the entertainment industries first powerful UV (UltraViolet) based effects and powerful UV lighting in Hollywood in the late 1980's, the first day to night, dual image and complete invisible scenery and scenic effects in the mid 1990's, now comes the next generation of UV based signage. Welcome to the latest venture from Ultra Vista Systems.... interior signage for brands in need of serious attention!

The first product in a series of planned products is ISIS 3D (The Illuminated Suspended Image System). This sign systems allows for glowing brand names, logos and art to shine in a slim, low voltage, lightweight profile that has never before possible before, says the company.

UltraVista Systems is the latest collaboration between Leslie Pringle and Richard Green, a collaboration that began in the 1988 when they brought Wildfire over from Europe,

Germany - Besides extraordinary talent and the fact they have all made the history of music, another thing legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse all have in common is that they belong to the 27 Club. The members of this fictitious club all died prematurely at the age of 27 in tragic (and obscure) circumstances.

The play of the same name, The 27 Club, directed by British director Toby Gough and performed at the St. Pauli Theatre in Hamburg, pays tribute to these and other music legends. It is a musical journey through time in which first-class musicians from Britain and the United States bow down to their idols and play songs such as Hey Joe, Light my Fire and Smells like Teen Spirit.

Patrick Woodroffe and associated designer Roland Greil dealt with the lighting design. Fifteen Clay Paky

USA - Avery Fisher Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Centre, has taken delivery of two DMX-controlled Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots from PRG/NJ. Avery Fisher Hall is part of The Lincoln Centre complex on the west side of Manhattan. The concert hall, which is used for a wide variety of events, opened in 1962 and has a capacity of 2,738 seats.

The Cyrano followspots replace aging fixtures. "The new Cyranos are the only followspots in the theatre," says Jason Marsh, associate director of production at Lincoln Centre. "We chose them for their exceptional quality and ease of use."

Marsh notes that productions in Avery Fisher Hall range from classical, rock and pop concerts to corporate events, television specials and network upfronts. "Television is the area requiring the highest-quality lighting, and TV lighting designers have requeste

UK - A global musical phenomenon, Wicked has taken to the road for its first UK and Ireland tour and the Production Resource Group (PRG) is providing a custom-built automation solution and the full lighting system.

The show opened at the Manchester's Palace Theatre to five star reviews and plays until 16 November when it will move on to Dublin. PRG is no stranger to the show, having supported the US tour since 2004.

PRG supplied a bespoke designed automation package for the production. For expediency the system used was set-up in its entirety in PRG's testing facility in New Windsor, New York prior to shipping to the UK. This enabled Wicked's creative team to pre-approve scenic moves, which saved valuable time in the theatre.

To support its UK installation John Galante, systems manager for PRG, joined the PRG and Wicked's technical team at the Manchester Palace Theatr

UK - After 25 years in the business, in the year Artistic Licence celebrates its Silver Jubilee, the company is relocating to a new studio space in London's vibrant Kentish Town.

Based in Harrow, Middlesex, for over two decades, the lighting control specialist has previously occupied the sort of light industrial premises suited to a traditional manufacturer. However, Artistic Licence now operates more as a design house, outsourcing the majority of its product assembly needs.

CEO Wayne Howell explains, "Artistic Licence is an agile company, happy to reinvent itself as the market evolves. The decision to outsource manufacture was one such change, but it has left us in a building that is no longer well suited to the way we operate. Our company philosophy is all about ideas and pushing the boundaries of new technology, and the new studio provides just the sort of environment

USA - At the 65th Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards, held in Los Angeles on 23 October, Lawo was awarded the Emmy Engineering Plaque. The award honours achievements that exhibit a high level of engineering and are important to the progress of the industry.

"I wish to thank all our partners and customers. They have always supported us and pushed us to develop products that better suit their needs and support their rapidly evolving workflow requirements. To me this cooperation is the key to Lawo's success", said Philipp Lawo, CEO of Lawo.

The Emmys' jury acknowledged that as one of the original manufacturers of audio networking technologies, Lawo pioneered the use of telecommunication protocols such as ATM/SDH (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and now RAVENNA (real-time Audio-over-IP technology), making it possible to distribute broadband audio in real time over WAN network

USA - Following their hugely successful PLASA London presence, Avolites and Avolites Media are heading to LDI at the Las Vegas Convention Center, from 22-24 November, to launch an array of new servers, fader wings, and consoles, Stateside.

Avolites Media will continue this year's launch of benchmark products by unveiling the S Series media servers, and Ai V7. The Ai S2, S4 and S6 are Avolites Media's latest server systems that offer 2, 4 and 6 Display Port / DVI outputs. They also feature the latest third generation PCIexpress motherboards, new series AMD graphics cards and PCIexpress SSD drives. In addition, the Salvation Engine can be easily configured to provide up to 64 layers of PIPs with a single server.

Plus the Avolites team will join the team from US distributor Group One to show off the eagerly anticipated Tiger Touch II. The much loved, intuitive console now offers

USA - Singer-songwriter Jack Johnson has taken his laid back acoustic sound on the road under the illumination of Bandit Lites. The month-long North American tour in support of his new album Here To Now To You concluded in October with every performance a sold out spectacular.

Lighting designer Scott Holthaus worked with Jack Johnson to create a simple tungsten look, using only scoops and lekos for the main part of the lighting design. Wooden battens and large pulleys give the appearance of "Roald Dahl meets the Italian circus" while 15 scoops and 15 lekos hang from random heights on the five bars.

"While we showcased the old technology, we have some moving heads hidden above in the support trusses to give a bit of pepper," explained Holthaus. "We (per lighting director Leif Dixon's idea) were worried that the artist would soon be bored of the s

UK - The newly opened Da Vinci Studio School was announced as the winner of the Locos in a Different Light competition at the National Railway Museum in York late last night. The competition which saw colleges and universities get to grips with lighting up Mallard and its sister locomotives ran as part of the Illuminating York festival and the museum's Autumn Great Gathering.

The students, who were judged by industry professionals were marked according to a number of categories including; theatricality, energy consumption, conservation and safety and conservation.

Da Vinci Studio School's creative lighting effects brought Mallard's freshly cosmetically restored sister engine Dominion of Canada to life, with subtle steam effects, a highlighted headboard and bell and dramatic red side lighting to provide contrast for its gleaming garter blue paint. Their work scored parti

Kenya - Following a large purchase of PR Lighting's premium discharge and LED automated lights, Nairobi-based rental company Homeboyz Entertainment Services has considerably broadened awareness of the Chinese company in east Africa.

Homeboyz, whose range of services includes turnkey event management, end-to-end event / AV production and hosting a famous urban FM radio station, has an outreach that includes other east African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.

Mainly specialising in rental/hire for the concert, corporate, theatre and club markets, they were attracted to the PR Lighting range after being introduced by the manufacturer's African sales manager, Lawrence Mao.

"We hit it off straight away," reports Homeboyz' CEO, Myke Rabar. "We had heard about PR Lighting in the past and seen them at international trade expos ... and

USA - A team of professionals with notable backgrounds in commercial and theatrical lighting, new product development, industrial design, engineering, finance and manufacturing have come together to form Aquarii, Inc., a provider of engineered LED lighting solutions.

Aquarii designs and manufactures LED light fixtures that bring unprecedented flexibility to venues, from front-of-house operations and house lights for performing arts centres to overhead lighting for municipal arenas. Created to make versatile LED lighting both practical and affordable for a wide range of facilities, Aquarii's lighting fixtures unite a variety of desirable features in one instrument, at price points that make it compelling to convert entire facilities from conventional lighting to LEDs, says the company. The company headquarters is located in Camillus, NY.

Led by Raymond Carrock as president, the

USA - Emmy Award winning lighting designer Oscar Dominguez from Darkfire Lighting used Robe MMX WashBeams for the first time on the 2013 NCLR American Latino Media & Arts (ALMA) Awards.

The star-studded extravaganza which celebrates the best of Hispanic talent, creativity and contributions made to film, television, music and the arts in the US was staged at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and presented by Mario Lopez and Eva Longoria. Longoria was also the executive producer of the ALMAs and kept everyone on their toes this year sporting seven different and equally stunning dresses throughout the evening!

This was the fourth year that Dominguez has lit the show, a task on which he collaborated closely with production designer Steve Bass.

His starting point for the lighting was the detailed set and his approach to lighting this was very architectural, accentuating its prominent

World - Heavy metal icon Black Sabbath continue their Reunion Tour in Latin America, Europe and the UK with a grandMA2 light console. The tour celebrates the band's reunion last year and supports their album 13, the first with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978. Baz Halpin is the tour's lighting designer and Michael Keller, lighting programmer.

Keller selected the grandMA2 for the tour since he's most comfortable programming that platform. "We're carrying the grandMA2 light with us now, but you can find grandMA2 in most places. grandMA2 does everything I need."

Keller initially migrated to grandMA2 "for its networking" capabilities, he says. Since then he's discovered that "it's a very friendly board. Once you get your profile set up it's easy and powerful. There's nothing you can't do on it." Upstaging provided the lighting for the tour.

(J

UAE - Wireless Solution Sweden AB is creating magic at the new MusicHall in Dubai with a system that provides an intelligent solution to a multi-use space. The venue is the second of a concept opened by brothers Michel and Jean Elefteriades who opened the original MusicHall in Beirut 10 years ago. It serves as a live entertainment hot spot as well as restaurant and nightclub.

The brothers found the popular Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel on The Palm in Dubai, which was looking to expand on their large event space and saw MusicHall as a good fit. The space already had an adequate stage, lounge area and dining facility, so it just needed an interior makeover and new lighting scheme.

In addition to the proper areas in place, the venue had a good existing infrastructure which included four over-stage trusses with winch control and some existing power and dimming provision through a ha

Spain - Robe lighting has just launched the Spanish version of its complete website (www.robe.cz/es/ ).

Users from Latin America, Spain and other Spanish speaking regions will now be able to find all the main content available in their own language, including information on all the new and existing products and their technical specifications, plus the latest from the company's busy newsroom.

Regional sales manager for Latin America, Guillermo Traverso, comments, "It's really great news to have the official Robe lighting site in Spanish now! It is a great opportunity for everyone using the Internet daily as an information and communication tool to be able to access this in their own language.

"It is also another great advance for the Latin market in general and we hope that, combined with our highly proactive social media channels, we can continue to provide an exci

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) reports that it has recently added the Chauvet Nexus 4x4 to its already extensive inventory and they are available for hire here now.

The Nexus 4x4 is both a bold eye-candy and tour-ready washlight capable of delivering at once the sizzle of a pixel mapping display and a robust light output afforded by 16 20-Watt RGB COB LEDs. The combination of COB emitters and a clever reflector design yields a striking, diffused light richly drenched in saturated hues.

The units are controllable via Art-Net, Klings-Net and DMX protocols and feature interlocking hardware to build large arrays. Whether in use for front viewings or as a backdrop, Nexus 4x4 promises a hard-to-match visual impact.

(Jim Evans)

UK - As part of its on-going 30th birthday celebrations, Black Light is offering 30% off all pyrotechnic hardware hires (subject to availability). It is also running a '3 for 2' offer on all Le Maitre pyrotechnic sales. Both offers run throughout November and usual terms and conditions apply.

"These offers are perfect for anyone who wants to use pyrotechnics to make their stage show, launch or gig that much more memorable," says Black Light's events and hires manager, Calder Sibbald. "We are hoping to get more people switched on to the creative potential and technical brilliance of Le Maitre's wonderful range of effects and equipment."

Black Light stocks the full range of Le Maitre effects - from its theatrical flashes and stage gerbs, to its confetti canons, smoke puffs and fountains. All the associated hardware - including controllers, pods, detonators an

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