International News

TRENTO, Italy — MUSE, a new science museum that opened here in late July, might have science as its focal point, but it isn’t blind to aesthetics. The well-known architect Renzo Piano designed the building, and the 24-hour grand opening featured an additional artistic touch from lighting and show designer Mariano De Tassis, who relied upon Clay Paky gear. Maffei Service, the company that dealt with setting up the sound, lighting and video equipment, provided 56 Clay Paky moving heads, including Alpha Profiles and Sharpys.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Artscape, a performing arts center with a 1,487-seat Opera House, 540-seat theatrical auditorium and 140-seat Arena theatre, underwent a lighting upgrade in 2012 that included additional Martin lighting fixtures. Working with Electrosonic SA’s Robbi Nassi, Artscape’s Nicholas Tilney added 24 Martin MAC III fixtures and 24 MAC 700s.

ABU DHABI, UAE — For its location here, Creative Communication Group (CCG) expanded its Clay Paky inventory recently, adding 36 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 fixtures to the 60 Sharpys the company had purchased earlier. CCG has also purchased 24 Igloos (EASY version with no W-DMX) and 24 Alpha LED Wash K20 units. The company also now offers Clay Paky GlowUp Strip 100 units.

JOHANNESBURG — For the 2013 Idols South Africa TV talent competition, Dream Sets provided Robe fixtures for series producers Sic Entertainment. LD Joshua Cutts from Visual Frontier specified the gear for the rig, which included Robe’s ColorWash 2500E AT, LEDWash 800, ColorBeam 700E AT and LEDBeam 100 fixtures, among other gear.

AALEN, Germany — Pangolin Laser Systems noted that the ILDA Awards, which honor those in the laser show and entertainment field, recognized many users of its laser control software. The awards were presented during ILDA’s 25^th conference, held here Nov. 4-7, 2013.

SYDNEY — Fat Sound was tasked with lighting structures for the International Fleet Review, a big celebration involving lighting, pyro and a large variety of watercraft. Fat Sound director Ray Eberle used Chauvet Professional’s COLORado 4 IP fixtures to illuminate the exterior of the Royal Australian Navy building and also the various events inside the facility.

VERONA, Italy — For a sold-out appearance of singer Luciano Ligabue accompanied by a backing rock band and also by a 70-piece classical orchestra at the Verona Arena here, LD Jò Campana specified Clay Paky and other fixtures from rental company Agorà. The rig included 42 Alpha Beam 1500s, 41 Alpha Profile 1500s, 24 Alpha Beam 700s and 50 Sharpys.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF), the public broadcasting organization for the southern, French-speaking portion of Belgium, aired a charity fundraiser on behalf of CAP48, an organization that helps the disabled. The live broadcast relied in part on SGM LED tubes for its visual appeal. Jean-Jacques Marotte was the LD.

AMSTERDAM — Robe caught up with Netherlands based rental company The Purple Group from Schijndel at the 2013 Dance Valley Festival staged at Recreatiegebied Spaarnwoude near Amsterdam and spoke to their regular freelance crew chief, Rick van Dugteren about the company’s latest Robe purchases.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Sweden’s cold October was warmed up this year by the lecture Patrick Woodroffe held in Stockholm. It saw the participation of trade professionals, students and enthusiasts from Sweden, other Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States.