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UK - After six years of negotiation, Jorge Otero Pailos' artwork, The Ethics of Dust: Westminster Hall was unveiled to the public on 29 June. The artwork, commissioned and produced by Artangel for Westminster Hall, is a 50m long translucent cast of the Hall's internal east wall, revealing how the dust and pollution which have gathered over hundreds of years register a broader environmental history.

To exhibit a piece of such scale in such a precious and delicate building, Artangel contacted Unusual Rigging for advice and expertise in suspending the piece from the Hall's 28m high hammer beam roof without damaging the building in any way.

Michael Morris, co-director at Artangel explained: "Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament and has been in continuous use for nearly a thousand years. Its walls have seen many political events - from the trials of G

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South Africa - The 2016 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), one of the highest profile events on the SA music calendar, was again staged at the Durban ICC Arena, broadcast live on SABC1 and enjoyed by an audience of 3000. For the first time, lighting was designed by Robert Grobler, who incorporated over 200 Robe fixtures on the rig which was supplied by Gearhouse South Africa.

The set was designed by Michael Gill from MGD and based on a collection of different sized LED screens, shaped into a multi-media environment giving everyone, wherever they happened to be seated in the auditorium, a clear and three-dimensional view of the stage.

Robert's challenge was to light all these different sections of stage separately so they could work as stand-alone elements and punctuate the overall sight lines or work together as one large overall set piece.

The Robe elements included

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USA - The latest addition to the Hakkasan Group, JEWEL Nightclub inside ARIA Resort & Casino, has raised the Las Vegas entertainment bar once again, with an interactive lighting design controlled by a custom Avolites system of integrated control desks and Ai media servers.

JEWEL opened in May with a superstar-studded launch hosted by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx, hip-hop heavyweight Drake, electro turntable stars The Chainsmokers and reality television sensation Kourtney Kardashian. To reinforce the luxury party vibe, Hakkasan Group commissioned international sound, lighting and visual design company AudioTek to "push the boundaries of technology" and create the ultimate nightclub environment for Sin City's elite.

The result is a high-impact, multi-sourced display based around the DJ's moving back wall of Ayrton Dream Panels, with both video and DMX surfaces, and Magic Dot fixt

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France - UrbanVoices has been held in the French city of Nantes each July for the past six years and this year features a 1000-strong choir of Nantes singers from seven to 89 years old. This is spectacular in itself, but the audience experience was further enhanced with the use of L-ISA Live, the latest sound reinforcement concept introduced by L-Acoustics founder Christian Heil.

UrbanVoices is a multifaceted project organised by the association of the Cité Monde [World City] which takes place over several months and is open to the entire city of Nantes. Karim Ammour is artistic director and creator of the project, entitled The City is Beautiful, and also its composer and conductor. It is an eclectic programme which honours mankind and nature and features compositions that range from reggae, soul, pop and gospel to rhythm and blues, with the thousand singers acco

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UK - Creative Technology (CT) has announced the acquisition of The Wireless Works, a specialist event service business based in Godalming, UK, delivering radio communications, intercom and data services to the broadcast and live event markets.

Founded in 2002 by Tristian Bickerton, The Wireless Works operates alongside CT at many prestigious events including Wimbledon, Glastonbury and the Olympic Games. The two businesses also service many common clients in the wider corporate events market and have a shared ethos of delivering high end specialist technical services, driven by innovative people and best in class technology.

The development and recent launch of CT's Integrated Networks division has created new synergies and opportunities in an increasingly complex and core area of technical event delivery. In the immediate future, the business will continue to operate just

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Poland - Billed as the biggest event in the world, two and a half million people are believed to have flocked to the 2016 World Youth Day (WYD), an international Catholic event focused on faith and youth, which this year took place at two sites in Krak

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USA - Multi-award winning 'Queen of Country' Miranda Lambert is currently touring North America on her Keeper of the Flame tour, featuring 27 x Robe BMFLs - 19 Spots and 8 Blades - part of a completely new lighting design by Minneapolis-based Paul 'Arlo' Guthrie, his first for the artist.

Arlo's brief from Miranda Lambert herself and her production and management teams was to help create a show focused on her powerful music and great connection with her fans, rather than relying on gags, ego ramps, confetti blasts and wizzy effects.

"I wanted the whole stage to have a straightforward and clean look and to ensure the LED blended seamlessly into the environment rather than being stark, obvious and contrasty," explained Arlo. The playback video content created by Empirical Studio has followed this aesthetic through beautifully, giving the video a softer and more filmic projec

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UK - Serious Stages designed and manufactured a custom-built scaffolding system along with bespoke specials to accommodate the impressive 1,200m? Crystal Village stage at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) UK, Milton Keynes, 8-10 July.

Serious Stages was tasked with producing a 30m tall by 70m wide stage structure, complete with cascading waterfalls, crystal towers and a giant owl's head, synonymous with this magical event. The EDC owl incorporated 1,000 lighting fixtures, over 400 video tiles, 28 lasers, pyro and 15 CO2 cannons, and Serious Stages was entrusted to ensure the stage could withstand its weight-loading requirements. Serious Stages also designed and built the stages' bespoke crystal towers, to ensure they were structurally sound.

To support the stage set and the three pyro platforms, the Serious Stages scaffolding was constructed using three heavy duty truss system

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USA - Lighting designer Victor Fable has been incorporating digital lighting and graphics effects from Elation Professional's Emotion digital light on television shows lately and recently turned to the new generation luminaire for the 2016 season finale of the popular competitive reality television series Survivor

The season finale of Survivor: Ka

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UK - For four years Alex Leinster and his team of video technicians have installed and managed a thousand square metres of LED screen and camera package for AEG's highly regarded Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park concert season.

The equipment supplied by Video Design has been slightly expanded this year, "We've added a 1.1m-wide vertical wrap around strip to the stage left wing to improve the view from the VIP area," explained Leinster. This well-reasoned attention to detail illuminates the bigger question, what do performers actually do with this generous expanse of video screen?

"The band are very energetic and rock their show, but they are not really a video band in the sense that on tour they don't have a scrap of LED on stage." Such was the conundrum outlined by Steve Price, video director for Mumford & Sons, one of the half dozen acts that headlined

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Spain - This year's Sonar+D festival in Barcelona saw Eurecat - the technology institute renowned for its ground breaking work in the world of immersive sound technology - unveil its SF

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Australia - The Wizard of Oz was staged recently to sold-out audiences at the 2,000-seat Thomas Hassall Anglican College in Middleton Grange, Australia. To give the school production a professional stage look, technical supplier Showtools Australia specified a host of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 12 Rogue R1 Spots, 24 x COLORdash Par-Hex 12s, 24 x COLORdash Batten- Hex 8s and two Vesuvio RGBAs to create maximum dimension and atmosphere on stage.

"It was vital for us that the production of the Wizard of Oz look professional in every sense of the word," commented production designer Michael Clisdell. "Each individual element of the Chauvet Professional lighting rig enabled us to really step beyond the realm of the typical school production, and elevate the experience for the audience to that of a genuine theatrical outing."

Together with second prod

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UK - Disney's hit new musical Aladdin recently celebrated its West End premiere at the Prince Edward Theatre, opening to critical acclaim on 15 June 2016. Now in its third year on Broadway and with productions playing in Tokyo and Hamburg, Aladdin will also open in Australia this summer. White Light has been called upon to provide the lighting equipment for this dazzling and much-anticipated production.

Aladdin is designed by Olivier and seven-time Tony-winning scenic designer Bob Crowley, Olivier and two-time Tony-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes.

The lighting designer for the show is five-time Tony-winner Natasha Katz whose previous credits include Once, Motown and The Little Mermaid. As the leading lighting supplier to West End Theatre, WL was approached to provide the lighting equipment on the production.

Dave Isherwoo

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UK - Harman Professional's leading pro-audio brands dominated the Big Top Stage for the first time at this year's Standon Calling festival in North Hertfordshire.

The fast growing boutique event, which began as a birthday barbecue for founder Alex Trenchard in 2001 before becoming a single-stage, one-day live music event in 2004, has since grown exponentially. Today it occupies the picturesque Standon Lordship site, where Suede, Kelis and Jess Glynne were the main stage headliners.

Dominating the landscape, the vibrant red and white canvas of the Big Top, which was largely used for electronic dance and other diverse acts, could be seen for miles around. Here the line-up included Goldie MBE, Greg Wilson, Theo Parrish, Joey Negro, as well as rising talent Gold Panda, Luke Abbott the Mercury Prize nominated Ghostpoet.

Glasgow-based Alive Sound are the traditional sound sy

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South Africa - DWR Distribution has been appointed South African distributor for DMXking. Designed and manufactured in New Zealand, DMXking supplies high quality DMX512 interfaces.

"We were looking for an Artnet solution that would be cost effective and suitable for our market," said Nick Britz of DWR Distribution. "When we first came across DMXking we decided to bring a couple of units to South Africa to have a proper look. They are awesome units, well made, easy to use and capable of both Artnet and sACN.

"In essence, this means that users can expand their existing console outputs, it's capable of doing Artnet out and in so they can use it as an input. It can merge Artnet so when someone is using two consoles and they want a back-up, or they need a quick changeover, this is an ideal solution."

"DMXking is pretty much plug and play out the box. Software is very intuit

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UK - As houses of worship strive to improve the audio quality of their services and other hosted events, Yamaha Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) products are proving popular for a market where ease of installation, cost-effectiveness, flexibility and simple operation are key requirements. Three London churches have recently begun enjoying the many benefits that CIS has to offer.

Yamaha Commercial Audio products already feature in a number of high profile UK houses of worship; these include London's Westminster Abbey and St Martin in the Fields. The CIS range has also seen regular adoption in the German house of worship (HoW) market; the Yamaha MTX3 matrix mixer being leading installer Klartext AV's processor of choice.

The CIS series is now making significant inroads into the UK market, with installer RG Jones Sound Engineering recently equipping three London church

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UK - Power distribution specialist ide Systems has launched ide Online (ideonline.co.uk), an online store where customers can buy power distribution equipment. The user-friendly interface and enhanced navigation ensures online orders are quick and easy. Free delivery is available on all orders and, as an introductory offer, all first time orders will qualify for a five per cent discount.

The range of equipment available to buy on the new website includes power distribution units, automatic transfer switches (ATS), site transformers, single and three-phase power cables ranging from 16A-125A, as well as a wide range of electrical accessories.

The new website will also feature an online exclusive in the form of the Vulcan range. This budget range of power distribution units features a high-visibility orange enclosure, making it ideal for outdoor use.

"We've launched ide O

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Italy - Kappa FuturFestival is an annual two-day electronic festival in Turin, which features popular and emerging names from the worlds of house and techno.

Attracting over 40,000 fans to the disused warehouse location of Parco Dora from noon to midnight, Kappa FuturFestival gives the audience a chance not only to revel in electronic beats but to enjoy a first class sound system provided by Rome-based Loud Professional. This year they powered the Main Stage PA to large extent with Powersoft's advanced Class D amplification.

The Main Stage, playing through a sound system designed by Michele Azzimonti, was an all-star line-up, including Gandalf, Monika Kruse, Sam Paganini, Solomun , Davide Squillace, Marco Carola, Just a Mood, Kerri Chandler, Sven V

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World - James Bay's current tour still has six months to run as the European festivals of the early summer give way to a stint in Asia then on to the USA for an exploratory month. Liam Tully has been at the helm of the lighting design since 2014.

Currently, his full design is stacked full of Clay Paky Mythos and Ayrton Magic BladeTM Rs and he is a firm follower of MA Lighting control using a grandMA2 Light as the main board, onPC Command Wing as back up and MA NPU for DMX distribution.

"From a control perspective, I moved to an MA setup a few months before taking on James Bay," opens Tully. "Everything works seamlessly together. For the festival events on this tour, it is almost a given that there will be a grandMA2 FoH. On those days, we even leave our control in the truck and I just walk up with a USB pen. We have a festival rig that includes 20 of the MagicBlades that a

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UK - Sennheiser has announced three upcoming courses from the Sennheiser Sound Academy, which will be run in various locations in the UK in August, September, October and November: Wireless Mics Monitoring Essentials; D9000 Digital Wireless Mastered Seminar; and Wireless Mics & Monitoring : The Master Class.

The Sennheiser Sound Academy offers tailor-made learning systems and expert knowledge for anyone working with microphone systems, whether you are an experienced engineer, or just starting out. Each course offers a combination of classroom training, which includes hands-on practical modules, and eLearning, which keeps things interesting and allows you to learn at your own pace and within the restrictions of your work schedule.

Wireless Mics Monitoring Essentials will be held at SSE's London base and Wigwam in Manchest

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UK - Leading visitor experiences company Merlin Entertainments has revealed that it is making extensive use of Audinate's Dante audio networking technology at a variety of its London attractions. These include a number of popular sites on the city's South Bank, including the Coca-Cola London Eye, Sea Life London Aquarium and Shrek's Adventure! London.

The installation at Shrek's Adventure! London - which opened in July 2015 - is particularly notable given that it is "one of the 'heaviest' attractions that Merlin has created in terms of AV," says Simon Casey, who is senior show services manager at the Coca-Cola London Eye and has also been involved in many other Merlin AV system projects.

For Shrek's Adventure! London, Dante facilitates audio processing and playout as part of a set-up that also features Medialon show controllers, 7thSense media servers, BSS DSP, Crown ampli

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Edinburgh Rocks - A spectacular light display on the side of Edinburgh Castle marked the opening of the city's International Festival. Dubbed Deep Time, the event, soundtracked by Glasgow post-rock band Mogwai, saw the landmark used as a canvas for animated projections taking in 350 million years of history. A planned live stream of the event malfunctioned, but spectators hailed the event as an "amazing spectacle". A viewing arena was created on Castle Terrace for the show, which marked the start of Standard Life's three-year sponsorship of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Deep Time was developed by 59 Productions with academics from Edinburgh University and will also look at the work of renowned Edinburgh scientist James Hutton (1726-1797), often referred to as the father of geology. Leo Warner, creative director of 59 Productions, said, "Deep Time g

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Germany - Southern Germany's Beatparade Empfingen at the A81 continues to attract thousands of fans. This year marked the event's 17th anniversary. In 2013 and 2014 four of the showtrucks were equipped with sound systems from ProAudio Technology. In 2015 a fifth one was added, which was loaded with the VT20 System for this year.

Another VT20 System was employed on the main stage. For this, the event organisers chose a VT20 Grand Venue setup of 2 x 6 VT20s, 2 x 4 VS18Fs and 16 VS18s as infra-array on the ground. The nearfield was covered by two TX20 tops. The PA was calibrated fast, yet precisely, the company says.

Four of the five trucks were equipped with the tried and tested HT16 horn-loaded tops plus SW18 and SW28 subwoofers. MT10 and MT12 multi-purpose loudspeakers were used as DJ monitors and for the truck sound.

(Jim Evans)

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UAE - The technical genius of Protec, working with its client and creative production agency HQ Creative, helped to kick off the fourth annual Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament with a spectacular opening ceremony. For the very first time, the ceremony was hosted by NASO, a 40cm high, walking and talking robot.

It entertained the crowd alongside a variety of exciting acts, such as acrobats on hoverboards, a Futsal game in the dark and a special performance from the Lords of Lightning. Lords of Lightning performed magical acts with lightning thanks to the electrical wizardry of tesla coils, which produce high voltage, low-current and high-frequency alternating currents. The spectacle of two wizards battling each other atop two 2.2m high towers is one that thrilled audiences and warped their minds.

Protec deployed BlackTrax to track 16 performers and a moving platform, where NAS

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