Lighting

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UK - At the eighth Grove Fuel Cell Symposium, which took place at ExCeL in London's Docklands at the end of September, the UK Fuel Cell Vision was launched by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The Vision highlighted the benefits to the UK in taking a leading role in fuel cell development and deployment, and described a pathway for fuel cells in the UK over the coming years. To help get the message across to delegates, symposium organisers Elsevier - one of the world's leading scientific information providers - contracted MCL London to provide a technological dynamic in the main conference room. MCL came up with a design that was sympathetic to the event, the centrepiece of which was a 20ft screen - surrounded by various branded panels - with rear-projected Powerpoint displays from a powerful Christie Roadie X10 DLP projector.

Nick Whitehead's lighting design was domin

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USA - After 22 years on Braker Lane, the staff of worldwide automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc is moving to a new location in Austin, Texas. The company's new home - just half a mile away - covers 97,500sq.ft in two adjacent buildings. The main two-story building houses the sales, marketing, administrative, engineering, production and shipping departments, while the new second building features a conference room, service training area and a larger demo room.

The move offers more than physical space, says HES VP of operations Rick Thompson. "Right now, High End is spread out over three buildings," he says. "This move will provide a synergy, a more cohesive culture. This will also offer significant cost savings in the areas of productivity and utilities. It gives us room for growth with all of our new products coming up this year."

HES found

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UK - Stage Electrics has secured exclusive distribution rights within the UK and Eire to one of the most innovative products featured at this year's PLASA show - Ayrton's Eyecolor LED moving head.

The compact unit's versatility, additive colour mixing, LED lifespan of 100,000 hours and fast and accurate movements made it an immediate hit. Stage Electrics' business development manager, Ian Brown, told L&SI: "At PLASA you normally meet your existing customers and make new contacts that lay the groundwork for them to purchase a product at some time during the rest of the year. This year people were looking at the Eyecolor and writing cheques!" One of the first deliveries of the Eyecolor was to an installation in Cambridge where six fixtures were installed by Cambridge Sound and Light.

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India - Mumbai-based Jagmag Electrical Company has announced that at the recent PALA (Pro Audio & Light Asia) exhibition in Singapore, it secured exclusive distribution rights in India for two leading European lighting brands: Avolites, the London-based manufacturer of show lighting control and dimming systems and Robe Show Lighting, the Czech Republic-manufacturer of automated lighting fixtures.

Jagmag is a high profile event production and lighting sales company headed by Atul Sonpal, with whom Avolites has enjoyed a fruitful working relationship since 1995. In this time, Sonpal, a leading lighting designer, has bought many Avolites products, and has been instrumental in establishing Avo consoles at the forefront of the Indian professional lighting industry. India has proved one of Avolites strongest markets since the Millennium. Their enthusiasm for technology has driven thei

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UK - Nearly 14,000 fans saw David Gray, Morcheeba and Nitin Sawhney perform at a free concert in Trafalgar Square - lined up to boost tourism and showcase the revamped square.

There was also a top line-up of production services to ensure that, technically, the event - organized by b-live, with production by AMP - went without a hitch. Star Hire's Roger Barrett was the show's technical director, working closely with AMP production manager Steve Allen. Other members of the creative team included LD Mark Cunniffe.

The Star Events Group installed a VerTech stage on the North Terrace of the Square, and handled the rigging requirements, with CT Screenco fielding two of the new Lighthouse LVP-1650 16mm outdoor LED screens. While the Lighthouse screens relayed images from the PA wings, the upstage centre backdrop, designed by Cunniffe, took the form of columns of 25mm LED display - th

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USA - Los Angeles-based A.C.T Lighting Inc has announced that Mike Carr has joined the company as an account manager. Carr, who was formerly with one of the largest flightcase manufacturers in the US, has over 10 years' experience in corporate sales. "His specialist knowledge of both lighting and special effects as well as flightcasing requirements makes him an ideal addition to our team," said A.C.T.'s Bob Gordon. "We welcome Mike to the family and believe that his unique perspective can only add to our already top of the line staff."

A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor for the MA Lighting grandMA range of consoles, Zero 88's Frog range of consoles and Artistic Licence products, as well as being a major force in the cable assemblies market.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - L&SI joined more than 100,000 people at the V Festival's Hylands Park site in Chelmsford for the V weekend in June, and 65,000 people at Reading for the Carling Weekend. For both events, the weather was spectacular, the perfect backdrop for strong performances from headlining bands such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay, David Gray and the Foo Fighters at V, and Metallica, Primal Scream, Linkin Park, System of a Down and Blur at Reading.

As anyone who's worked on them will know, the festival season presents enormous challenges to technical suppliers and employers responsible for planning and co-ordinating such large-scale events. The logistics are complex thanks to the sheer volume of equipment required and the high turnover of acts at each event. When bands 'flip-flop' between venues over a weekend, as in the case of Chelmsford/Telford and Reading/Leeds, festival sit

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UK - Radio 1 has re-invented its approach to taking live events to its listeners this year, under the auspices of its live events manager, Dave McCalmont. He joined Radio 1 two years ago having previously worked with MCP/SFX. L&SI spoke to Dave after the final 'One Big Weekend' event in Cardiff, where 20,000 ticket holders got to see some of the world's leading DJs, as well as bands such as The Darkness, Travis and Dido.

Why change the format of your events?

We wanted to create events which would work within the overall festival calendar and still allow us to focus on our organization and promotion. We wanted to produce top-notch events that gave the public good, free entertainment that they couldn't get anywhere else. We were careful to place our three main shows across the summer months, starting in May in Manchester and finishing in September in Cardiff with the 'On

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Sweden - Stage engineering specialist Visual act has installed a unique set of four lifts for the new production of Lee Hall's Spoonface Steinberg set to open on 31 October at the Jewish Theatre in Stockholm. The four lifts are set on a rotating stage which is placed 3m under the stage floor. The lifts can be raised from 1m below the stage surface to 1m above while the revolve is moving.

Visual act's battery-based servo amplifiers are used to allow all of the equipment to be installed on the revolve - no slip rings or special cable arrangements are required. The operator desk communicates with the system over a radio link. The lifts are all lit from within and all visible surfaces are translucent, while the framework is designed to reduce shadows so that the lifts appear as boxes of coloured light.

Spoonface is directed by Pia Forsgren who has worked together wit

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USA - With its new Mania series of inexpensive DJ lights that will eventually include effect lights, colour changers, strobe lights, deco effects, scanners, promotional lights, smoke machines and more, Martin Professional is going head to head with the established manufacturers of DJ lighting both European and in the US.

The first in the series, Mania EF-1, is a dynamic flower effect featuring 6 coloured patterns -useful as revolving dance floor motifs, wall projections or flying mid-air effects. The effect can be either sound triggered, moving to the beat of the music, or automatic, performing its own program independently.

While other lights fall foul to heat exhaustion, the Mania "cool" concept centres on Mania's ability to remain comfortably cool all night long. Simply put, Mania has no duty cycle, meaning you don't need to shut it down and wait for it to cool o

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UK - Spirit Design was invited by production company Corporate Events Plus to light the Tesco's Company Conference 2003 - the second time Spirit has been involved in this project. The biennial event brings 2,000 senior managers from as far afield as Malaysia to attend a one-day conference and gala event. This year Excel in London's Docklands was selected as the venue for the meeting. Using 13 of Excel's 34 flexible venues such as a registration area, plenary auditorium, champagne bar and dinning space were created, totalling 28,000sq.m of presentation space. Spirit directors Danny Evans and Justin Adams shared responsibility for the design of individual zones. Adams commented: "The size of the event and the lead time made it impossible for the entire project to be handled by one designer, Danny and I were particularly careful to ensure that all of our designs gelled into a co

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Italy - Following intense competition, ETC has won a major contract to supply one of the world's best-loved opera houses with a complete lighting and control system. La Fenice was one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world and the leading opera house of Venice until a fire destroyed it in January 1996. The building burned for more than nine hours, leaving only the façade intact, the interior was completely destroyed, leaving the structure in danger of collapse. Efforts to control the fire were hindered because the two canals nearest the theatre had been drained for dredging, ironically in order to facilitate access by Venice's emergency motorboats.

So named because it rose like a phoenix from the ashes of its predecessor, La Fenice has been destroyed twice before by fire. Construction began in 1790 but the building burned down before completion. It was quickly rebuilt

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Australia / Malaysia - Tryka L.E.D. has announced the appointment of Total Concept Projects (TCP) as its distributor for Australia and Malaysia. TCP have developed a professional approach to customer needs and have grown to become one of Australia's leading lighting and sound solution providers. Tryka's managing director Chris Rolph says: "Thanks to their versatility and experience in several sectors, TCP are well positioned to distribute our products across the many markets our range is suitable for."

Tony Musico, managing director of TCP, adds: "We believe that LEDs are the way of the future. After extensive research, Tryka have come up trumps. Their range of fixtures, quality of build and sheer brightness make them ideal for the Australasian environment.

(Lee Baldock)

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Germany - Siegmar Pröbstl has been appointed head of the Osram Photo-Optic Division with effect from 1 October 2003, replacing Bernd Schaefer in Berlin who is retiring after 15 years as head of the division. Pröbstl was previously managing director of Osram in Great Britain, prior to which he worked for Osram in Turkey, South Africa and Korea. His career with the lighting manufacturer began in 1985 at the Osram head office in Munich.

Osram holds a strong position on the world market in special photo-optic lamps. Its products include light sources for the chip industry, cinemas, medicine, the media, theatres, airports, video projection and the home cinema.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

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UK - Architectural lighting specialist i-Vision has developed a new LED solution to meet a challenging brief for the Coffee Bar at Topshop, one of the larger retail outlets in the high profile £540m new Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham. LED strip lighting was specified by Christopher Rowell to light a series of polyester fabric sails, designed and installed by tensile fabric specialists Architen Landrell. i-Vision's Luke Dodd worked in close collaboration with Rowell to achieve the desired result. Architen's client was Cube Music, concept designers of the Coffee Bar area - a chill out space where shoppers can re-energise or just have some space away from the fray for relaxation and socialising.

The brief was for the sails to be tinted red. The problem was that nothing could hang down below a very shallow series of rafts (housing cabling and control equipment) suspended in

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UK - HFM Lighting, specialist in the design and supply of advanced lighting solutions, has further expanded its operation with the appointment of Mick Scullion as sales manager. Scullion (Jaggy) who previously headed up PSL Lighting as part of the giant PSL group of companies brings over 20 years' experience and a wealth of expertise gained across both the corporate and live touring industries to the HFM organization.

Commenting on his new role, Scullion told us: "Moving on from PSL will allow me to get back into what I enjoy most - working closely with clients from the outset of a project, providing practical and creative lighting solutions. I'm looking forward to channelling my expertise as part of HFM's experienced team and working with new clients across a variety of challenging applications."

HFM's managing director Hugh Frazer-Mann explained: "I've known J

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Germany - G-LEC Europe, manufacturer of the G-LEC LED Curtain, has taken the first step towards setting up an international sales team with the appointment of Christoph Müssener as sales director. Previously sales manager with Trendco, where he worked with major brands such as Wybron, Avolites and Radlite, Müssener brings substantial knowledge and understanding of the entertainment industry to the company. Müssener will manage international sales and act as co-ordinator for the international offices, currently France and G-LEC's UK representative office at Fourth Phase, London.

Lars Wolf, G-LEC's managing director, who will devote more time to the development of the company, said: "The G-LEC brand is growing fast. We had a tremendous response at PLASA 2003, plus we are looking forward to showing at LDI next month, and Christoph's experience and dedication will help us co

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Russia - Moscow's world famous Bolshoi Theatre has recently installed a number of Clay Paky Stage Zoom 1200 and CP Color 400 projectors, adding to its existing conventional lighting system. The theatre's lighting designer, Damir Ismagilov, explains how the new fixtures were integrated into the existing rig: "The Stage Zoom 1200s are often used with other theatre lights, in performances or scenes requiring up to 1,000 lights per scene. However, they are even more characteristic on their own, when creating contrasting lighting effects, for instance. These new professional moving body projectors offer a designer so much more creative freedom - I can change the direction of light far more quickly and precisely during a performance, but the most important thing is that Stage Zoom 1200 is also extremely powerful! For example, in the 'Patibolo' scene from the opera Khovanshchina<

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UK - Entec Sound & Light has launched a visual/video division with the purchase of a RADlite digital media server from Projected Image Digital. This will go into immediate use on the forthcoming Jools Holland tour, specified by LD Simon Honnor.

Entec's Noreen O'Riordan says that apart from its immediate use on the Jools tour, they also picked RADlite to add another element to their expanding range of LED fixtures - which includes the - James Thomas Pixelline - as it runs their Pixeldrive control software. "All those associated with RADlite - David March at Projected Image Digital and Simon Carter and Emma Long from IRAD - were incredibly helpful, and took time answering all our questions at PLASA," she said.

At PLASA, LD Dave Byars (Blur) gave an impressive hands-on demo of Pixeldrive in action on the James Thomas Stand, and talked over his own show experiences of us

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UK - Leading pro lighting and audio sales specialist Stagetec UK and its sister distribution company have moved into new, larger premises in Bracknell, Berkshire. The companies' new address and contact details are: Stagetec UK Ltd, 9 Bilton Industrial Estate, Lovelace Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 8YT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)870 224 7808, fax: +44 (0)870 224 7818. E-mail and web details are given below.

The move addresses the need for more space and the recent expansion of the team. The purpose-built unit is being customized for Stagetec to meet the growing demands of its business and workflow. The site includes a large, open prep area for equipment to be tested and set-up before being dispatched for installation or sale, and dedicated areas for both the audio and lighting elements of Stagetec's business, plus large demonstration and training areas. The offices are also designed and

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UK - The Cross Keys in Yarm, Cleveland, recently under new ownership, has emerged from a comprehensive refurbishment as one of the most stylish and contemporary pub/club venues in the north-east. The Grade II-listed public house has been given its technical make-over by Music Marketing Services, which has installed new lighting and Martin Audio sound systems throughout.

Pete Varey of Music Marketing Services, who installed a Martin Audio Blackline PA system upstairs in the Cross Keys' nightclub, explained: "It was entirely the client's choice; they'd heard a system at a club in Middlesborough and wanted one for themselves." Four F15 high-performance compact two-way cabinets are flown above the new flashing dancefloor, with two S218 sub-bass bins built into the walls below the mid/high cabinets. Eight ultra-compact EM26 boxes provide infill.

Downstairs in the Keys Bar

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Germany - The 'Deutsche Oper am Rhein' in Düsseldorf has modernized its lighting equipment with transtechnik Lichtsysteme. Düsseldorf Opera House used their summer break this year to realize phase two of their modernization process and expand the lighting control system in both the stage and front of house. With moving lights, colour changers and dry-ice machines now an established part of theatre life - no longer confined to the traditional realm of rock concerts - Düsseldorf's goal was to have as much flexibility as possible in their Ethernet/DMX control network. At the heart of the new lighting control system lie two transtechnik Lichtsysteme Prisma NT consoles and the intuitive Libra operating system controlling the moving lights and colour changers. The new solution also features a 24.3" TFT channel monitor and a Digiplus digital auxiliary console for the programmable

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UK - Major rental company Knight International has added Coemar Pro series 575 yokes to its hire fleet, as well as a batch of Hungaroflash strobes and Antari X series effects machines, all supplied by Kent-based distributor Coemar UK.

The Chelmsford-based company has a heavy and varied workload, with a busy wet hire programme and a burgeoning cross-hire arrangement with another Coemar-based house, Terry Tew Sound & Light. Aside from servicing a number of one-off spectaculars, Knight International is also prominent in the Asian market.

Proprietor Phil Knight told us: "Coemar are a good investment for us because of their competitive pricing and good optics. Scanning mirror technology has had its day and there are certain things we need out of moving yoke systems, mainly price and reliability. I have known the people at Coemar UK for many years, and once we had evaluated the

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USA - With sales of its automated fixtures reported to be at an all-time high, Vari-Lite has appointed industry veteran Charlie Hulme as regional sales manager for the Western United States. Hulme has proven success in providing entertainment lighting systems for the concert touring, theatrical, architectural, corporate theatre, retail, nightclub and houses of worship market segments.

"We hit a home run with the Series 3000 fixtures," said Vari-Lite vice-president of sales Bob Schacherl. "The demand is amazing. I've seen nothing like it in my 20 years in the automated lighting industry. Because there are so many lighting professionals out there desiring Vari*Lite products, it was extremely important that we bring in someone who understands the industry, the tight deadlines and who knows what it takes to ensure that our customers' needs are met."

Hulme has s

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