International News

NURBURG, Germany — If you’ve ever wondered how far you could get in a Porsche over the span of 24 hours, a team of drivers at the Nürburgring Nordschleife have provided an answer: 156 laps of the 25 km track (about 15.5 miles), or a little over 2,400 miles — at an average speed of 100 mph through the track’s matrix of twists and turns, with close to 200 other race cars for company.

KUWAIT — The Kuwait Center for Autism opted last year to expand the use of its five-year-old theatre, and in a bid to make the venue more attractive for potential users, they decided to upgrade the existing lighting capabilities with the installation of a new grid.

MOSCOW — Star Factory, a reality TV talent show broadcast on Russia’s Channel One, offered viewers a new visual look with Clay Paky’s narrow-beam Sharpy. Mixing elements of Pop Idol and Big Brother, the contest aims to nurture the next generation of singing talent with help from pop industry veterans.

LOWER WITHINGTON, U.K. — Jodrell Bank Observatory became a destination for an outdoor concert featuring the Flaming Lips, British Sea Power, OK GO and other bands, and dbn and projection company Bluman Associates helped turn the Lovell radio telescope and its 76-meter-wide dish into something to look at for the crowd of 5,000 who attended.

MILAN, Italy — As part of the Salone del Mobile home furnishing exhibition here, LD Paul Cocksedge relied upon precise colors projected from 80 ETC Selador Classic Ice LED fixtures in an exhibition space that projected both lighting and video onto an 82-foot-long, curved white wall. Visitors would not be able to see the video, however, until they viewed the wall through a red light shade.

MOUNT MASADA, Israel — Blackburn UK based lighting rental company HSL supplied all stage lighting equipment for the Israeli Opera & Les Choragies d’Orange in France’s production of “Aida,” staged in a purpose-built amphitheatre at the foot of Masada Mountain at The Dead Sea in Israel.

DUBLIN — Rental company Just Lite provided Robe moving lights for the main stage and surrounding areas at the 2011 Oxegen Festival in County Kildare, Ireland, including more than 100 used for the main stage. The fixtures’ reliability was put to the test when the skies opened and it rained throughout the first day of the event.

ISTANBUL — Fashion Art has been turning to Robert Juliat gear for high-profile fashion shows, premieres and other events in Turkey featuring designs by Armani, Zen & Zen, Mudo, Donna Karan, Aris, Abbate, Sarar, Kigili and choreographers including Ugurkan Erez, Oner Evez, Yasin Soy, Zeynep Arkok; Banu Noyan and Ilke Kilic..

ASTANA and ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Wireless Solution Sweden AB and Kvant Ltd. of Bratislava, Slovakia played a key role in producting the opening ceremonies of the 7th Asian Winter Games at Astana Arena from Jan. 30-Feb. 6, 2011. This was the first time that Kazakhstan hosted such a large event since its independence from the Soviet Union. The event hosted 26 nations that competed in 69 events in 11 sports.

LONDON — Great Britain’s Royal Ballet recently staged Romeo and Juliet for an audience of 12,000, not at their home venue at Covent Garden, but at London’s vast O2 arena. The spatial experiment was deemed a success and the complex production relied on an ETC Eos lighting control system.

NOVA GORICA, Slovenia — KSL Studio d.o.o, Robert Juliat’s Slovenian distributor, has supplied 40 Robert Juliat 614SX 1200W tungsten profile spots to the National Theatre Nova Gorica in Slovenia, where they will be the main workhorses for the theatre’s varied program.

LONDON — Even if the name Sue Sylvester doesn’t yet frighten the life out of you and you’ve never heard of Glee, there’s little doubt you will do soon. As Glee fever sweeps the UK, the hit high school TV drama has inspired British kids to compete in a charity fund-raising spin-off called Comic Relief does Glee Club. The show was aired during Comic Relief Week, when the whole country gets together to entertain each other and raise cash for UK charities.