As the world waits for events to reopen, Barcelona looks forward to welcoming ISE to the City, and to building for the future 

Integrated Systems Events’ Managing Director, Mike Blackman, has returned to Barcelona this week (13-16 April) as the city prepares to welcome ISE Live & Online.

Mike Blackman was taking part in the Barcelona reACT Conference, a 4-day working event to relaunch the city’s economy after a year of pandemic. Speaking at the conference and looking forward to June, Blackman said: “We recognise that the world needs events to get back to business and we are thankful for the support we have had from the national, regional and City authorities, the team at the Fira and of course to the pro AV industry for its enthusiasm in the face of what has been an incredibly difficult period. Whilst 2021 will offer a different experience we are confident of delivering a great event which will pave the way for ISE 2022 in Barcelona.”

Embracing the hybrid approach to events, ISE Live & Online will bring the industry together in a safe and richly rewarding way.  Mike Blackman explained:  “Whether joining online or in-person in Barcelona, attendees can access inspiring content from innovation leaders, networking opportunities and the latest technologies.  This main ISE event, 1-2 June in Barcelona and online, acknowledges that we are at a stage where we can start to plan again for the future and these two days will assist the industry to build a new roadmap for a new era.”

ISE Live:  ISE@ Barcelona: 1-2 June, Fira de Barcelona Gran Via

In-person attendees can visit booths from exhibitors including Alfalite, Ampio, AVI-SPL, Barco, Biamp, Control4, d&b audiotechnik, Equipson, LANG, NEC, Panasonic, Sharp, Shure, WolfVision plus many more. Highlights from the exhibition will be broadcast from the Main Stage during the two days. There will also be a Pavilion by ICEX to highlight Spanish brands and business opportunities as well as a host of other features including:

AV Experience Zone: a special feature area at the Gran Via, produced in association with AVIXA, that will see presentations from 15 leading Spanish integrators across the two days.  Content will be in Spanish and will cover the retail, hospitality, corporate, education and digital signage sectors, exploring new business possibilities and looking forward to the recovery.

Catalan Innovation Zone: ACCIÓ is an agency of the Government of Catalunya for Business Competitiveness. ACCIÓ’s different programmes promote internationalisation and innovation and the agency will host a dedicated show floor zone showcasing these leading companies and technologies. ACCIÓ has also partnered with ISE and TNW to produce three Startup Nation sessions on the Main Stage, highlighting upcoming Catalan entrepreneurial talent.

ISE Digital – The Future of AV: Live 1-2 June / On Demand for 2021

ISE Digital is a two-day festival of content, powered by CISCO technology, and designed to deliver an intuitive agenda that will help to build a roadmap to success. With a comprehensive programme of live and on-demand content, ISE Digital will come from ISE’s own virtual studio with live sessions from the Main Stage in Barcelona on 1-2 June. Available on demand in the weeks that follow, the programme is a collaboration of informative content from ISE, AVIXA, CEDIA, TNW (The Next Web) and key show partners.

Live from the Main Stage, Barcelona: During the two-day festival, the Main Stage at the Fira will be at the heart of the in-person content programme, with sessions also livestreamed to the online audience. Building on the RISE Spotlight programme which ISE has been running since November 2020, ISE Digital will also feature On the Sofa Keynotes, Reporter Roundtables and of course Startup Nation, sponsored by ACCIÓ, highlighting start-ups that are shaking up the markets.

Both AVIXA and CEDIA will be featured on the Main Stage with a range of sessions covering the latest market intelligence, global trends and taking a look at the smart technologies driving the residential and commercial marketplaces.

The full programme will be revealed on the ISE website over the coming weeks, but some highlights will include:

• • On the Sofa Keynote with TNW: Shaking out the trends in next tech

Key insights showcasing the tech trends all businesses need to have on their radar and why.  This session explores which technology has accelerated and what’s been put on the backburner as a result of the pandemic.

• • Rising to the challenge: Finding opportunity through crisis

An influential AV thought-leader takes us on a journey of how they innovated and led their team to achieve growth through the different phases of the pandemic. This story is set to inspire and help you reflect on your own leadership style.

• • On the Sofa Keynote Interview: Sustainability Accelerated

Sustainability is at the top of the global agenda and modern society is increasingly concerned with sustainability initiatives and the protection of our shared environment, so ignoring it can only result in being left behind. We ask a thought leader what corporates ought to be looking at, why and what the perfect destination is in terms of a sustainable business.

• • Roundtable: What’s your purpose?

How to position your brand and service in a post pandemic world. How important is brand purpose? Is it time to evaluate the values of your business?

Registration is free, quick and simple – don’t miss out – reserve your ticket now:

https://www.iseurope.org/register.php?actioncode=LIVEAPR2 

Image: Paul Wasserman.

Resuming event operations is possible if all hygiene and infection control requirements are taken into account and events thus become a safe space for visitors. This is one of the central theses of the panellists at the Prolight + Sound BIZLounge: the digital exchange format for the event industry celebrated its successful premiere on Tuesday, 13 April. In addition, international experts shed light on burning issues surrounding the effects of Brexit, sustainability and education in Corona times.

“Despite the corona-related cancellation of Prolight + Sound, the industry came together at the BIZLounge in the digital space for an immensely important exchange of ideas,” says Mira Wölfel, Director Prolight + Sound. “The event industry has shown that it can pull together when it comes to finding solutions for the way out of the crisis and to not lose sight of important goals for the future. We are very pleased about the insightful discussions with top-class experts – and also about the many international participants who followed the programme from home and enriched it with their questions”.

Roadmap for the return to cultural business: Forum Veranstaltungswirtschaft presents its Restart Manifesto

The events industry is committed to a gradual return to cultural operations with a comprehensive licensing matrix that includes a progressive step-by-step plan and suggested wording for uniform regulations. Members of the “Forum Veranstaltungswirtschaft”, an alliance of authoritative trade associations, gave an overview of the Restart Manifesto at the Prolight + Sound BIZLounge. Among other things, it illustrates the effects of applying individual packages of measures on the maximum permissible capacity utilisation of venues.

According to the panel, it is not only the cultural and economic point of view that is endorsing a restart, provided strict measurements are applied: The holding of events could also have a positive effect on the overall epidemiological situation. On the one hand, the risk of infection is lower at events with a strict hygiene concept than at uncontrolled gatherings that escape official supervision. On the other hand, testing before events is an important key to identifying infected persons and preventing further spread of the virus in private and professional contexts, panellists said.

The point was made that a low risk of contagion at events with a consistent testing concept has already been proven in recent weeks at model events, for example in the Netherlands. The development of new tests that deliver faster results and are more convenient for the test persons is also causing optimism in the industry.

Brexit poses many challenges for the industry

Representatives of the industry associations VPLT (Germany), PLASA (UK) and PEARLE (EU) discussed the immediate effects of the UK’s exit from the European Union at the Prolight + Sound BIZLounge. Among the topics discussed were the need for customs declarations, different marking requirements for technical products (CE vs. UKCE) and the high bureaucratic effort of applying for visas.

When the pandemic-related travel restrictions are no longer in force, the effects of Brexit will only really be felt – the discussants at the Prolight + Sound BIZLounge agreed on this point. Significant negative influences for the touring business are to be expected above all from the cabotage regulations: for example, that after entering the mainland, only two transport services of a UK-based vehicle are possible before it has to return to the UK – and vice versa. The negotiating parties had not taken sufficient account of the operational reality in the events industry, according to the panel’s assessment. What is desirable, it said, are exemptions for the cultural sector, both in transport and visas.

The future of the industry is green

The event industry must actively drive the change towards more sustainability: this commitment was reiterated by the participants of the third panel of the Prolight + Sound BIZLounge, which was made up of representatives of the EVVC, the European Music Council and the UFI Sustainable Development Working Group. In doing so, the participants referred to a broad concept of sustainability that takes into account not only ecological but also social and cultural aspects. For example, they said, it is part of sustainable action to counteract market concentration and the associated loss of variety in the event sector – as well as a commitment to diversity and gender justice.

One result of the discussion was that “green events” do not necessarily have to go hand in hand with more costs. For example, by reducing energy consumption, optimising transport logistics or dispensing with meat in catering, industry participants could both save money and make a contribution to the environment.

Christian Allabauer of the Austrian Theatre Technology Association (OeTHG) then presented the effects of the new EU Ecodesign Directive on the theatre and event industry. This has created legal certainty as to which light sources may be used in the future. It is now up to the industry to take responsibility for sustainable action on this basis, Allabauer said: for example, by consciously using the most energy-efficient solutions possible, taking into account the required light spectrum, consistently switching off equipment that is not in use, using replaceable or repairable light sources, recycling – and last but not least, by industry players actively keeping up to date with technological developments.

Industry and universities see successful training of event professionals ensured despite pandemic

Are students and trainees in the industry who acquire their qualifications during the pandemic at a long-term disadvantage? Representatives of the VPLT and various educational institutions rejected this hypothesis. It is indeed challenging to provide young talents with practical experience when hardly any events can take place at the moment. However, there are also opportunities for newcomers to the industry who are being trained in future topics right now – from hybrid events to virtual productions to safety and hygiene concepts. Likewise, the crisis competence of students and trainees would be increased against the background of the current challenges. In addition, learning the theoretical basics is ensured by the timely conversion to remote learning, panellists said.

According to the speakers, there is no doubt that the digital transformation is forcing educational institutions to change – and not just since the outbreak of the pandemic. Lifelong learning will gain in importance in the future. A decisive factor could be the system of so-called “micro-credentials”. The term describes small-scale, Europe-wide certified and recognised learning sessions, which should enable faster access to further and continuing education.

Showcase projects in the spotlight

The Prolight + Sound BIZLounge concluded with the presentation of two renowned industry awards. The “Sinus – Systems Integration Award” honoured the “Osram – World of Light” in Munich. The winning project of the “Opus – German Stage Award” was the production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Seebühne Bregenz. In this context, Sanela Kolb, head of the “Neustart Kultur” project, gave an overview of support programmes supervised by the DTHG.

In the future, Prolight + Sound would also like to keep the entertainment technology industry up to date on current developments by digital means. The next edition of the BIZLounge is planned for 14 June 2021.

A short summary of the event is available on the Prolight + Sound YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/plsfrankfurt.

The next Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt opens from 26 to 29 April 2022.

All further information at www.prolight-sound.com.

* preliminary figures 2020

The Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) has revealed plans for the coming weeks to provide hours of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for lighting engineers, designers, students and consultants.

All the events will be held online and cover a range of lighting topics. Light pollution, contracts, electric vehicles, and road lighting standards are all on the agenda. Booking is already open for several of the sessions, which will be hosted by ILP volunteers and delivered by a variety of lighting experts.

The CPD webinar series line up consists of:

• Road Lighting Standards for Europe and beyond, hosted by ILP Ireland on 29 April
• What should Scotland consider when planning electric vehicle charging?, hosted by ILP Scotland on 6 May
• NEC4 Conditions of Contract, hosted by ILP Ireland on 20 May
• Northern England Dark Skies – sharing good practice, hosted by ILP Durham on 25 May
• Planning and lighting – NPPF and the APPG for Dark Skies, hosted by Young Lighting Professionals on 9 June

Attendees can pre-register for a VIP experience: to attend the events live and ask questions, ILP members can book a free place, and non-members are welcome upon payment of the low price of £10 per session. Attendees will also be sent a link to watch the recording afterwards via the ILP website.

ILP Membership Manager, Karen Suggett, said ‘CPD is really important for ILP members, especially when it comes to upgrading membership and I’m delighted the ILP is helping the lighting community so much. The topics covered are so wide ranging, I think there is something for everyone.’

The CPD events are in addition to the Institution’s ongoing ‘Hi Lights’ monthly drop in chat, continuing ‘Light, Seen’ exhibition showcases from ILP Premier members, and ‘How To Be Brilliant’ sessions designed for students and newcomers to the profession. Everyone interested in lighting is welcome at all of these activities.

To find out more and book for the CPD and other events, lighting professionals should visit www.theilp.org.uk/events.

Lighting rental production company, Neg Earth have added the new PROLIGHTS EclPanel TWC LED softlight to their rental fleet.

Neg Earth pride themselves on being at the forefront of lighting technology and innovation, actively monitoring the latest designs and offering clients state of the art solutions to meet their requirements, matched by a level of technical expertise which is second to none.

On recommendation from a number of top lighting designers, Neg Earth decided to demo the new EclPanel TWC from PROLIGHTS and were incredibly impressed with its performance and notable list of features.

Neg Earth’s Sam Ridgway commented; “After several recommendations for the EclPanel TWC, I had high expectations and I am pleased to say the fixture certainly lived up to them. The fixture’s output is brighter than a number of competitors products at only a fraction of the cost. The performance and features of the EclPanel TWC really set it apart. Its quality whites and rich colour capabilities make it a truly versatile product.”

The EclPanel TWC has individual pixel control enabling the colour and output to be varied per section. In addition, the EclPanel TWC comes with a wide selection of effects on board that users can select and manipulate without the need for a lighting console or extensive programming. Each effect can be customised in order to meet the design requirements and enhance creative capabilities.

Sam continued; “This is a very nice-looking fixture and we are looking forward to getting it out on more jobs soon. We have no doubt our customers will rate it as highly as we do.”

The units were supplied to Neg Earth by PROLIGHTS’ exclusive UK distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET).

“Neg Earth have a long-standing relationship with AC-ET and it is always a pleasure to work with them. The team are friendly and knowledgeable and are always there for support when needed.” Sam concluded.

www.ac-et.com

Submit your Lighting Product and lighting Design projects.

The LIT Design Awards 2021 is now open, receiving submissions from lighting manufacturers, lighting product designers, lighting design firms and practices from around the world.

The Farmani Group and 3C Awards are launching the 5th Edition of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, a powerful cross-disciplinary platform celebrating the highest quality of Lighting Design and Lighting Product Design since 2017. With 78 categories represented, the LIT Awards is today one of the most comprehensive lighting design competitions, uniting creativity, and innovation.

The LIT Lighting Design Awards honors every year; the LIT Lighting Designer of the Year and the LIT Lighting Product Design of the Year; both given to professionals and students. LIT Design Awards is encouraging students and young designers to apply, winners of the “Emerging” prizes will receive a cash prize of US$1,000 to support their next project in lighting design.

The Lifetime Achievement prize has been introduced in 2018 to recognize Lighting Designers, Lighting Product Designers and other professionals in the Lighting Industry, whose contributions over their entire career to the industry are tremendous. Nominated and dedicated to professionals, the prize is today the highest honor awarded in the lighting design field.

The Spotlight Prize has been introduced last year to put the “spotlight” on an organisation, project, or initiative that carries out remarkable work for its community and having a major contribution to the Lighting Industry. Nominated, this prize was received by the “Women in Lighting (WIL)” in 2020.

Selected by the esteemed jury of designers and leaders in the lighting, interior design, and architectural fields, the annual winners will receive the LIT trophy, extensive publicity showcasing their designs and products to an international audience, and more.

Due to the extreme circumstances of COVID-19, resulting in the cancellation of the Awards Ceremony; the Board of the LIT Design Awards decided to host an online event, honoring the outstanding work of the LIT 2020 Winners in the Professional and Student categories.

The LIT Design Awards 2021 will close on the 17th of October 2021.

Receive a 10% discount off the submissions fees by applying before the 30th of June 2021.

Above: Illuminated River, from London Bridge to Lambeth Bridge © Jason Hawkes

• The lighting of Blackfriars Road, Waterloo, Golden Jubilee, Westminster and Lambeth Bridges extends the transformation of central London
• This visionary public installation celebrates London as a uniquely creative and innovative world city
• At 3.2 miles it is the longest public art commission in the world, on display every evening from dusk until 2.00am
• 90 million people a year will see the nine-bridge artwork, which now spans from London Bridge in the east to Lambeth Bridge in the west
• The artwork by New York-based artist Leo Villareal with award-winning London architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands was chosen by an international jury in an open competition in 2016
• Funded by philanthropists with the support of the Mayor of London, the project’s funders include Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Reuben Foundation and the Rothschild Foundation

Above: Westminster Bridge, Illuminated River © James Newton

Above: Detail under Waterloo Bridge, Illuminated River © James Newton

Image Caption: The ‘energetic’ content was displayed on 30 sq.m of LED screen and battens. Credit: © Showtech.

German car manufacturer Audi launched its highly-anticipated electric e-tron Sportback model in Denmark with a visuals-focused event powered by two Hippotizer Amba+ Media Servers.

More than 30 sq.m of LED screen was constructed at Audi Danmark’s Gladsaxe showroom, as a backdrop to a large stage upon which the e-tron Sportback was displayed.

Audi Danmark’s marketing manager Morten Friis-Olsen approached Danish event lighting and visuals expert Showtech to deliver the visuals, lighting and staging for the launch, which was live streamed to both consumers and members of the car industry.

“The Audi team shared the brief for the event with us, requesting a dynamic and bright look and feel to reflect the car’s ‘100% electric, 100% Audi’ tagline,” says Showtech’s Joachim Bay. “We translated this into the visuals, using Audi’s branding as the core of the creations. We then uploaded the visuals into Hippotizer’s ZooKeeper software, stacking it and using presets to align it. We also used the Hippotizer to simply adapt the content for the LED screens and a series of Martin VDO Fatron 20 LED video battens, which we placed around the stage.”

Bay and his colleague Mathias Stephansen, who operated the visuals at the event, controlled the LED screen and the Fatron battens via Art-Net using a grandMA2 light console. The team used one Hippotizer Amba+ to drive the screen and another focusing on the Fatrons.

The result was an energetic, visually striking event that worked for both those present at the showroom and the online audience.

“I was impressed by how easy it is to manage the content, using the Hippotizers,” Bay continues. “The software gave us a lot of options on-site to quickly update everything and be creative with the content that we’d already uploaded. We needed to add effects and adapt the content at the showroom, sometimes in real-time, and the Hippotizers really made this simple and effective.”

This latest course from the ILP is for street lighting engineers old and new, asset managers, trainees, apprentices and all those involved in street lighting maintenance. Ever wondered why maintenance operations are carried out the way they are? Do you know how unmetered energy is managed, billed and what the ‘ring-fenced’ definition for an unmetered supply is? Then this course is for you. A course filled with information and practical advice that identifies the issues and options then discusses solutions available.

You might not have had the opportunity for formal training in this area – we aim to make sure you have the practical knowledge you need to add to your competency in four key areas:

• Lighting and the law, risk management and lighting units
• Electrical supplies, unmetered energy and switch regimes
• Equipment specification, lighting design and electrical design
• Inventories, inspection and testing and lighting policy development

The ILP’s online training platform is open to everyone but if you are an ILP member, you can access the courses at a discounted rate.

You can access the course here: https://courses.theilp.org.uk/fundamental-street-lighting-course/.

Yorgo Lykouria has been awarded the ‘Best of the Best’ product prize at this year’s Red Dot Awards for AMBITUS, an innovative high performance luminaire designed for Austrian manufacturer Zumtobel, combining state-of-the-art technology within a nuanced form.

Yorgo Lykouria, founder and creative director of Rainlight, collaborated with Zumtobel, one of the world’s most well-respected lighting manufacturers, over a ten-year period to create AMBITUS, distinctive by its compact profile and circular shape to emit maximum light distribution, in a sector dominated by linear forms.

Lykouria explains, “It seemed to me a paradox to design a luminaire with straight lines when all natural sources of light such as the sun and moon are spherical. Linear lighting systems often express disruption in a building that has complex geometry, rather than order. AMBITUS resolves this challenge because a circle is derived from a point; it can change direction and follows a modulated form without being oriented incorrectly.”

The design development stage involved using pliable LEDs and a highly complex tooling process, while AMBITUS’s perforated pattern is achieved using sophisticated computational formulas, with the resulting abstract design reminiscent of being beneath a starlit sky. It is suspended by distinctive, thin cables that also carry power and data. The result is a precise, elegant product that fuses design poetry with sharp functionality.

The AMBITUS light engine offers tuneable white, direct and indirect lighting, with the ability to adjust colour temperature via programming systems or directly via a smart phone. It has been well documented that light works not only visually but also emotionally and biologically and AMBITUS’s adjustability can achieve harmony with users’ Circadian rhythms, providing energising or calming light as required.

AMBITUS’s balanced synergy of design and technical sophistication impressed the judges of the Red Dot Awards, which this year received more entries than in any previous year in more than 60 years of highlighting design excellence. AMBITUS clinched the ‘Best of the Best’ product award for Rainlight and Zumtobel, the highest accolade in the awards programme, with the manufacturer also picking up two other Red Dot awards, one for a flexible spotlight and another for a collaboration with Austrian design studio EOOS.

Yorgo Lykouria adds finally, “Receiving the Best of the Best award really is a great honour. This project dates back over a decade and I knew then that there was a need for a high-performance circular light and this is the perfect recognition of that now.”