International News

SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA – South African lighting designer Denis “Hutch” Hutchinson joined creative forces with Robert Grobler from rental company Techrig to produce a masterpiece of imagination and style for a Gala Dinner event. Robe added ambiance to the night.

LONDON, UK – UK’s version of the popular U.S. TV competition show, Minute to Win It, had its own challenge: to emulate the lighting looks of a sports stadium in the small, 600-square meter studio. Distributor White Light teamed with Richard Martin Lighting to sample a range of Coemar’s Infinity range of products to help fill the bill.

ISLINGTON, UK – Ross Ashton’s The Projection Studio was commissioned to design and create special video artwork for London-based Pollard Thomas Edwards architects (PTEa), who specialize in creating and revitalizing neighborhoods. A special event at their base in Diespeker Wharf, Islington, celebrated their first renovation: a former Victorian timber mill transformed into a contemporary workspace and headquarters for their practice.

CWMBRAN, UK – Cooper Control’s entertainment lighting control team spent the month of August onsite in Edinburgh supporting the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. More than 150 venues involved in the Fring chose Zero 88 control desks and dimming, with 200 products supplied from a host of Zero 88 dealers.

LONDON – UK based production company LarMac LIVE (LML) co-ordinated all technical production for 16 major stages and eight smaller performance and creative areas at the 2011 Bestival event. Their full 24-hour production services onsite included facilitating the installation of major festival artworks on the main stage and around the massive site in Robin Hill country park on the Isle of Wight. Bestival 2011 enjoyed fabulous weather and an audience of 55,000 as the whole phenomenon continues to grow in popularity.

SYDNEY – The Australian Institute of Music, an education and training institution for performing arts and entertainment management, recently purchased two ETC Element consoles: one for the Pilgrim Theatre Sydney, for their Dramatic Arts program, and one for their multipurpose 220-seat auditorium in Foveaux Street. To educate the students on the new equipment, Jands conducted a special training day led by Rod McKinnon.

ALINGSAS, Sweden – Martin Professional provided lighting equipment for Lights In Alingsas 2011, an urban lighting exhibition that includes work by international students of lighting design and architecture. A combined effort between the municipality of Alingsas and the Professional Lighting Designers’ Association, many Martin fixtures were used to light structures such as Martin’s Exterior 400 luminaires and Professional Exterior 1200 Image Projectors.

MOSCOW, Russia – The Moscow A.P. Chekhov Art Theater uses an ETC lighting system, with two Congo control consoles at the helm. Head Lighting Designer Damir Ismagilov chose the consoles and has them operating hundreds of lights, including conventional fixtures and automated fixtures.

AARHUS, Denmark – Martin Professional is wrapping up its busy summer touring season, which saw their lighting rigs used on various tours around the globe, most notably UK festivals Reading, Leeds, Glastonbury, iTunes and Isle of Wight; Festival De Cornouailles, France; Positivus, Latvia; Northside, Skanderborg, Roskilde, in Denmark; and Summerburst in Sweden.

LLANELLI, U.K. – Lighting Technology Products has installed LED lighting, including UV graffiti art and UV tubes used as part of an interior design scheme, at the Robert Davies Health and Fitness Centre in Llanelli. The venue features a two-floor gymnasium, sauna, steam and salt inhalation rooms, among many other features.

TORONTO — LD Steve Baird used CAST Software’s wysiwyg R27 to light Dream Theater on the band’s recent European festival tour, which included performances at 20 different festivals. Baird found the software useful for busking, or running the show cue to cue, with the variety of different rigs found at the various festival sites.

LIVERPOOL — Production and lighting designer Roy Bennett is using 112 Martin MAC 101 wash lights for R&B singer Rihanna’s current Loud world tour. The fixtures work within a key visual element within the show’s design: moving half-sphere video pods, with the MAC 101s shooting beams through semi-transparent video.