The Antwerpen Sportpaleis played host to a cornucopia projected lasers and lighting earlier this summer when promoters, Zillion presented their new ‘Iluminati’ dance concept.
This brand new design, conceived by Frank Verstraeten, who co-promoted the event with Yves Smolders, ran over two days — each with nine hours duration. There was an abundance of GLP JDC1 and JDC Lines, some 85 JDC Line 500 and 40 JDC 1 hybrid strobes deployed.
“We used all of these fixtures, not only as a conventional strobe but also to create an atmospheric glow, enabling us to punch through with the other moving heads,” commented Lighting and Set Designer, Thomas Boets.
They placed 45 of the JDC Line 500 on two large trusses above each moving head while the second batch of 40 JDC Line 500 were mounted on the front / left and right side of the DJ stage.
The stage itself, 6m wide and 6m deep, could elevate DJs to a height of 8.5m. “We used the Lines in combination with the two long side trusses, to create an extremely powerful effect. These connected the two long trusses to create an even larger look. The variety of colours used to create the atmosphere and the powerful strobe chases resulted in a huge tunnel which attracted people towards the stage,” Boets explained.
Also, there were 40 JDC1 hybrid strobes — 20 attached to the main grid in the roof and the remaining 20 to the moving mirror video boxes, which had been custom made for this event and attached on moving hoists. “It gave us the opportunity to play with the different heights and movement of the objects in the venue,” Boets continued. “The ability to create a bigger scenographic effect with these JDC1’s was the cherry on the cake.”
The impact created by GLP’s popular hybrid fixtures received the approval of Leon Driessen, who operated the show from a ChamSys desk. “The JDC1 simply remains a power product, especially the combination of the wall wash and strobe in one fixture. The aggressive flash mode—in which the power goes from the backplate to the strobe engine—also makes it especially interesting,” Driessen commented.
GLP’s Belgian distributor, Nils De laeter from A Light Balance BV, had called Thomas Boets about the announcement of the new JDC Line fixture. “He then introduced me to it at Pro Light & Sound in Frankfurt,” continued Boets. “I was immediately surprised by its output and how small this fixture was. The different ways you can use it with the RGBW LEDs were impressive … particularly the strobe impact and the many possibilities created by the different options available.”
Some of the fixtures were supplied by PRG Belgium, who were the event’s technical partner, the remainder were sourced from Germany.
Boets confirmed that the creative meetings with Frank Verstraeten had certainly paid off: “We both came up with a unique set-up which had many high tech surprises and special tricks. Frank already had a lot of specials in mind that he wanted to implement and all the pieces of the puzzle came together in the final design.”
He also credited show director André Beeckmans. “He is well-known in the EDM industry so he was a valuable asset for this event.
“For a tech geek like me, this was a dream come true,” summarised Verstraeten to which Boets added. “The event was an unqualified success. We needed a powerful fixture for this type of event and the GLP fixtures blended perfectly into the design. We went really deep into the technical side of this setup so all the different elements could work together— and this created a maximum experience for visitors.”
