PARMA, Italy – Building on the idea of projecting a nativity scene on the Oratorio dei Rossi church, the Parma city council opted to use projections on Strada Garibaldi near the city's center instead of traditional holiday lighting for the 2010 Christmas celebrations from 12 Clay Paky V.I.P. 300 fixtures. Alessandra Toscani, art project manager with "…And Arts," an agency that organizes artistic and cultural events, was credited with the original idea. IRES, the power company, helped fund the project, along with merchants along the streets, and technical support for the celebration was provided by Giuseppe Cavatorta's Top Service and Italo Bellocchi's Brait Acoustic.
The 12 V.I.P. 300s with rain shields beamed Christmas-themed imagery, including stars and snowflakes, on building facades.
Along with the new look, Top Service's Cavatorta noted some practical advantages. "The system is safer, because fewer lights are more controllable and more reliable than a ‘web' of equipment that crosses the whole carriageway," he said. "There were also considerable consumption savings: twelve V.I.P. 300s with power factor correction allow savings of about 20 to 30 percent compared to traditional lighting.
"Lastly, another factor that should not be underestimated is that installation is very much simpler," Cavatorta noted. "With traditional festive illumination, it is often necessary to close the road to traffic, which causes great inconvenience during the run-up to Christmas. We instead set everything up in a day and a half without blocking the road at all."
To see a video of the projections, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rumbO74PGcs
For more information, please visit www.claypaky.it.
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