Dubai - Following hot on the heels of the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, Shakira's sell-out concert at Dubai Autodrome has provided the curtain raiser for this year's Event 360 expo at PALME Middle East. Event 360 Exhibition Manager Jonathan Gadalla says that when the recent Dubai Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and Dubai Jazz Festival are added in, it illustrates just how far the industry in the region has developed.

"The Philharmonic Orchestra shows at the new Festival City recorded a huge turnout, indicating a real interest in the classical music market," he said. "On top of that, 25,000 people attended the Jazz Festival. It is evident from this that whether the music is classical, Latin American, heavy metal or jazz the level of appreciation is now unprecedented."

Some of the magic of show production will be introduced to the Dubai International Exhibition

UK - A huge success story in Spain, street-wear retailer Desigual is now raising its ambitions to a more global level. And to entice shoppers in to sample its ranges of garments, Lighthouse 10mm LED screens are providing an eye-catching entrance in Desigual's most high profile stores, starting with the recently opened store in Las Ramblas in the very heart of Barcelona, Spain.

The company currently has 38 Spanish outlets, in locations from Barcelona to Zaragoza, while new outlets have recently opened in Italy and Singapore with one in London to follow in the spring.

The Desigual store in Las Ramblas, Barcelona is in a prime position, cutting through the heart of the city centre. Such is the popularity of the area and the amount of shopping on offer that something very special is required to make any new retail premises stand out from all the others. Desigual therefore chose tw

China - Prolight + Sound Shanghai which takes place 17-20 October 2007, will double in size and scale to occupy two halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Returning for it's fifth annual session, this specialist trade fair is growing alongside China's continuing investment in commercial and cultural infrastructure, say the organisers.

New sports facilities, clubs, hotels, airports, theme parks, broadcasting stations, and entertainment venues are springing up right across the country, creating strong demand for pro-sound, lighting and entertainment products. This is demonstrated by the fact that over 12,000 professional visitors - including retailers, dealers, distributors, technicians, engineering contractors and stage & lighting designers - attended the show in 2006.

China has allocated some US$17 billion in funds to build 42 new airports over the next five year

USA - The American DJ Group of Companies has introduced a new line of cables. Sold under the Accu-Cable brand name, the new cable line is designed to fill a gap in the market for high-quality, affordable audio and DMX cables and extension cords in a wide range of lengths and connector-types, says the company.

Included in the Accu-Cable line are mic, patch, speaker and DMX cables and connectors, as well as AC extension cords. A large product selection is offered within each of these categories.

"We developed the Accu-Cable line to provide a complete cable solution, a one-stop source where audio and lighting dealers and end-users could pick up all of their cable and cord needs," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. "We were hearing from our customers that it wasn't always easy to find good, quality affordable cables in the leng

UK - System integration specialist Broadcast Networks has appointed Tony Simpson to the position of general manager, with immediate effect.

Simpson has extensive experience of the broadcast industry having previously run his own company, Audionics, which handled productions for television, advertising agencies and the audio industry.

Commenting on his appointment, Tom Haye, director of Broadcast Networks, says: "Broadcast Networks is expanding and with more projects coming in, we needed a general manager who could take charge of the office, liaise with clients and co-ordinate our workflow to ensure efficiency."

Simpson adds, "I ran my own company for more than 20 years and have a thorough understanding of what it takes to make a business successful. Tom is simply too busy to do everything himself and I am looking forward to the challenge of helping the company

USA - In a move to provide integrators with a clear understanding of power distribution and grounding of audio, video and telecommunications equipment, Middle Atlantic Products has announced that its newest industry resource, Integrating Electronic Equipment And Power Into Rack Enclosures is available for download from the company's website, MiddleAtlantic.com.

The result of a collaboration between Bob Schluter, president and chief engineer, Middle Atlantic Products, Bill Whitlock, president, Jensen Transformers and Neil Muncy, president, Neil Muncy Associates, this new white paper provides installers with a basic understanding of effective power distribution while offering tips and tricks for avoiding common problems, says the company.

Commenting on the announcement, Schluter said, "The intent of this paper isn't to teach integrators how to be electricians. Rather

Germany - Norwegian manufacturer projectiondesign is partnering with Frankfurt-based systems integrator 3Dims to showcase visualisation solutions for the automotive industry at this year's Hannover Messe fair. Held between 16-20 April, Hannover Messe is an aggregation of 10 different trade fairs, each focused on a different sector of industrial technology.

Co-exhibiting with PNY, an Nvidia distributor, the 3Dims stand will be inside the 'Digital Factory' trade fair, which acts as a showcase for industrial visualisation, simulation and digital content.

"Our company works with the manufacturing design and imaging departments of a number of German car manufacturers as well as universities and other leading companies," explains Friedhelm Birk, managing director, 3Dims. "Our stand at Hannover Messe will have a software scenario which reproduces a realistic, life-like

UK - 5 Star Cases has launched a new version of its established Powerlift system, designed to widen choices in the ever-expanding LCD and plasma screen market. 5 Star's Keith Sykes comments, "We've been building cases for this type of application for some time, and saw great potential in offering a standard, highly flexible 'out-of-the-box' system which is quick, easy and painless to rig and set up."

The Powerlift consists of one of 5 Star's Tour Grade cases together with a recently launched, electrically powered lifting mechanism. The lift has been custom designed for the specific requirements of lifting LCD and plasma screens. It features a small footprint and a robust all-steel construction.

The 24V motor drive is coupled to a high quality lead-screw jacking system that has both upper and lower limit settings for fine tuning and adjustment. A wireless hand-held re

UK - York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe, was brought to life recently when the legendary stained glass windows were used for a series of projections as part of the Illuminating York festival.

Co-ordinated by Ben Pugh, the event enabled visitors to assemble between dusk and midnight over a three-week period and see 70ft high-definition portrait-shape projections depicting work from cutting-edge New York artists Mark Downie, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser under the title Recovered Light.

The task to deliver the content was entrusted by City of York Council to locally-based video specialists, YSL Videowall Hire; they in turn sub-contracted The Picture Works, whose director, Robin Wealleans, knew that his Christie Roadie 25K 25,000 ANSI lumens 3-chip DLP projectors were probably alone in being able to meet the stringent criteria.

Weallean

France - E//T//C France supplied a complex and elegant high powered video projection show last week for leading Parisian jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels. This was onto the front of the their newly redesigned flagship store.

Produced by Aslize and designed by Scenographism, the projection show featured two Christie 25K projectors and E//T//C France's OnlyView control system.

The event marked the end of a year of celebrations for Van Cleef & Arpels' centenary, which started when they moved into the Place Vendume salon in 1906. The interiors have now been completely redesigned by Patrick Jouin.

The opening was a select, invitation-only red carpet event for Van Cleef & Arpels' 500 best clients. The exclusivity of the occasion demanded some very special presentation, so Van Cleef & Arpels turned to innovative event producers Aslize to conceive and design a 'magical' video projection

UK - Registration to attend the 29th ABTT Theatre Show (13-14 June, Royal Horticultural Halls, London) is now available via www.abtt.org.uk/theatreshow.

Already sold out, this years show will play host over 100 exhibiting companies filling all three halls to capacity. With several new exhibitors, including ChamSys Consoles, Sunbaba Fabrics and Northern Stage Services, the event presents a comprehensive range of products and services for professionals and non technical users involved with equipping, refurbishing or up-grading their drama studio, theatre, auditorium or multi-purpose performance space.

One of the show's aims is to illustrate all aspects of performance technology and offer practical advice from leading suppliers about the enormous value that can be added by investing in technology.

Also illustrating the Show's commitment to education, drama schools from around t

UK - One of the pioneers of early HD projection technology in event staging, London-based QED Productions has adopted the latest generation 3-chip DLP technology with the purchase of eight Christie HD8K projectors.

QED director Paul Wigfield says that these devices are the brightest high definition projectors in their class, setting new standards in quality and ease of use. "We are delighted to begin a new partnership with Christie and I can confirm that this purchase is just the start," he promises. QED is also the first company in the world to take delivery of the new HD18K extreme high brightness projectors from Christie.

Wigfield set up QED with co-director Stephen Heliczer over 20 years ago, since when they have remained in the vanguard of technical production in a range of sectors from prestigious live events to broadcast. "We had been looking closely at t

New Zealand - Processing devices from BSS Audio have helped bring a new aviation heritage centre, majoring on World War 1 aircraft, to life. The highly anticipated Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre is an exciting new concept specialising in aviation history. Located just outside Blenheim in the Marlborough region of the South Island of New Zealand the centre's first exhibition, Knights of the Sky, occupies 3,000sq.m of purpose-built display area. The collection is managed by the 14-18 Aviation Heritage Trust, chaired by the New Zealand film Director Peter Jackson and comprises one of the world's largest collections of World War 1 aircraft and memorabilia; this has been brought to life with a number of dramatically staged static displays along with functional planes.

From the AV perspective the entire project was managed by Grant Collie of technical solutions company LDPS, Ne

Japan - Beyonce kicked off her Beyonce Experience world tour on 10 April with a large video-dominated production featuring 14 High End Systems DL.2 digital light fixtures, the most ever specified on tour, in the design. LD is Justin Collie of ArtFag; DL.2 supplier is XL Touring Video of Los Angeles.

John Wiseman, CEO and president of XL Touring Video, says, "This is not only a large tour in terms of scale of production, but in terms of fixture quantity, this is the largest tour DL.2 has ever been on. We're proud to be supplying the fixtures for it. The DL.2s are a major element in Justin Collie's design, and this is definitely a visual experience to see."

The tour started in Tokyo, moves to Australia, hits Europe/UK in April-June, and North American arenas July-September.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Awards events provide several of the annual highlights of the UK performing arts industry and Lighthouse screens have enjoyed a high profile at two of the most recent, the Brit Awards and the TPi Awards. 14 February 2007 saw the Brit Awards take place at London's Earl's Court. With the event happening on St Valentine's Day, Lighthouse's heart-shaped screen was a star of the show.

Broadcast live on ITV, the 12 panels x14 panels Lighthouse R16 screen with measurement of 12.72m wide by 10.64m high dominated the Brits' stage, while a second, rectangular R16 screen, measuring 12 panels x 9 panels (12.72m wide by 6.85m high) was positioned stage left, upstage of one of the two performance areas.

The screens and control system were supplied by XL Video. Featuring a mixture of live camera footage, VT play-ins and graphics, control for the screens was provided by XL's new portable

UK - Trident has expanded its portfolio of displays to include the largest public display LCD available on the market from NEC Display Solutions. The 57" LCD is ideal for large public displays and offers a superior screen performance for viewing images, HD TV, video or presentations in public environments including shopping centres, airports and exhibitions, says the company.

The 57" NEC MultiSync LCD5710, available from Trident, is designed to offer public venues a cost effective and easy to maintain solution to providing high quality viewing experiences. Using wide viewing angle technology, clear and bright images can be viewed without glare, distortion or reflections, regardless of the position of the audience or varying light conditions. Video walls can be created with up to 5x5 displays to produce a more powerful impact to the audience "whether at a conferenc

USA - Application-engineered to address the specific thermal, cable and space requirements of today's broadcast and production facilities and components, Middle Atlantic Products has introduced its R4 Series Four Post Open Frame Racks. These are open frame enclosures that support deeper, heavier loads than traditional two post racks, accentuate passive thermal management to effectively vent harmful excess heat, and provide integrators with reliable, versatile and affordable mounting solutions for broadcast applications, says the company.

The robust R4 Series Four Post Open Frame Racks can be ordered in two different styles, each with specific features that make them suitable for use with certain components.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Christie has introduced Christie ACT, a new theatre automation controller purpose-built to interface with the latest generation Digital Cinema technology. The system makes it easy to automate presentations by translating cues from connected devices to control most theatre equipment including lighting, curtains, sound, masking and projectors, says the company. The system offers a solution, enabling customisable control to suit the needs of a single screen, a multiplex facility or an entire theatre chain.

Manageable through a web interface, Christie ACT allows the user control and flexibility. It can be accessed from any web browser on a networked computer making it accessible from a portable handheld computer or laptop.

With an intuitive graphical user interface, even the novice can easily customise tasks and events to suit specific needs, says the company. Featuring pre-d

USA - Element Labs has announced its entry into the film and video market with the debut of two new intelligent LED lighting products, the Kelvin series white light fixtures and the Versa BANK video-mapped lighting system.

Well-known in the live entertainment and architectural markets, Element Labs is now applying its technology to develop solutions for film and video. Both new products will debut on Element Labs' camera set at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention in Las Vegas.

The Kelvin series LED-based white light fixtures provide unlimited variable colour temperature settings, creating a new level of flexibility in lighting. Plus, Kelvin fixtures maintain a colour rendering index (CRI) of 95 between 3200 K and 6500 K, resulting in extremely high-quality light. And, unlike traditional lighting products, colour temperature remains consistent throughout t

Singapore - Singapore's growing infrastructure - requiring the need for ever more professional staging services - is already having a positive effect on this year's Event 360º show, which makes its debut under the wing of the umbrella PALME Asia expo in July.

Some 1,000sq.m, a quarter of the overall capacity at Singapore Expo, will be set aside for Event 360º Asia. Heartened by the initial response, Davin Er, who is responsible for developing this sector, believes that interest has not only been stimulated by the support from the Singapore Tourism Board, but the building of the S$3.85bn Marina Bay Sands complex, housing casino, hotel and convention centre.

Event 360º Asia will also be working closely alongside Singapore-based UnUsUal Productions, who are among an increasing number of local companies that have the capability of offering world-renowned ev

UK - The annual St Patrick's Day celebration took place in London on 17 March 2007. A major part of the action took place in the Capital's iconic landmark Trafalgar Square, where the fountains turned green, large amounts of Guinness were drunk and the action was relayed by Lighthouse LED screens.

The free event, organised by Mean Fiddler for the Mayor of London, featured the best of contemporary and traditional Irish music on the main stage in Trafalgar Square, with video specialist The Picture Works supplying all the visual elements for the show.

Two 5 x 5 panels of Lighthouse R16 16mm LED screens, each measuring 5.08m (w) x 3.85m (h), were positioned stage left and right, with a further 4 x 3 panels of Lighthouse R16 measuring 4.05m (w) by 2.8m (h) placed centre stage.

"We've done this particular job for six consecutive years," says The Picture Works owner Robin

UK - XL Video supplied Production North with plasma and LED screens and a Version 4 Catalyst digital media server, all of which were used as an 'ambient' video system for the Lemar theatre tour.

Production North's Steve Levitt and Sarah Hollis (also the tour's production manager) came up with a set design which also incorporated the video screens. They wanted something a bit different, a slightly discreet and understated visual effect that would work appropriately in the venues that Lemar was playing.

The seven screens consisted of six plasmas ranging from 42 to 61" dotted asymmetrically around the set for a quirky slightly random feel, and a 6ft by 4ft panel of Barco i-Lite 6 LED screen to stage left. The plasmas were attached to various bits of set and trussing with scaffolding clamps and adaptors. All surfaces were driven by content stored on the Catalyst, which was tr

Spain / Portugal - Quercus Equity has invested 60 million euros in the acquisition of the Spanish group Stonex and the Portuguese audio-visual group Alfasom - owner of the Spanish companies Aysav and Congress Rental Ibérica - creating the largest audio-visual group in the Iberian Peninsular.

The Stonex group, founded in Madrid in 1980, specializes in engineering and turnkey stage equipment projects for theatres, auditoriums, congress centres, casinos and theme parks, encompassing stage engineering, show lighting, architectural lighting and audio-visual installations. The company has offices in Madrid and La Coruña, and boasts more than 300 reference projects in the Iberian market, such as WB Madrid theme park, Pamplona Auditorium and congress centre (Baluarte), Colon Theatre in La Coruña, Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, Expo 98's Lisboa Camoens Theatre and Gran Casino de A

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), is sponsoring Performing Theatres, part of The Theatres' Trust Conference 07. Performing Theatres follows on from the successful 2006 ABTT Theatre, Architecture and Engineering Conference and develops the need for there to be a stronger profile for users in setting out requirements for building and refurbishing theatres.

Raising issues about how best to maximise theatre design in the 21st Century, the Performing Theatres Conference is chaired by Ian Brown, artistic director, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Genista McIntosh and Venu Dhupa, director of creative innovation, Southbank Centre. The one day event promises to offer a lively and wide-ranging debate on how the design of theatres will meet our needs in the 21st Century.

Complementing ABTT's annual Theatre Show, which highlights technological innovation a

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