An illuminated trail of 105 Astera AX3 lighting fixtures, fitted with custom firmware, were set up along a 58km stretch of the Danish / German border as part of Genforeningen 2020 – a series of events celebrating the centenary of the reunification of Southern Jutland with the kingdom of Denmark.
The border of beacons were designed by Line Lybek Witt from the Theatre and All Stage ApS’s Anders Kruse and organised by Teater Seachange.
The showcase was originally planned for 2020, but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kruse was delighted to take up the challenge. Astera AX3s were placed along the route on 105 specially selected – and accessible – border stones out of the 280 that mark the boundary between Denmark and Germany.
When darkness fell on 8 May 2021, the boundary was lit up and energised in a line of snaking lights extending from Skomagerhus in the east to the Wadden Sea in the west.
The biggest challenge was control. While the AX3s were the perfect light source, all 105 needed to switch on simultaneously at 21.30 exactly on the night and the range of the Astera controller didn’t stretch to the 58km length of the border.
Astera’s Danish distributor Light Partner, Jonas Dam; Simon Canins, a member of Astera’s technical team and Jesper Soerensen collaborated to come up with a solution. With the addition of some custom firmware uploaded to each AX3, the lights all switched on at the correct time.
Kruse explained that with only a couple of weeks to find a solution, the pressure was on. “Everyone was up for it, the collaboration was fantastic, and the Astera team worked super-fast on making it happen. We did an initial test and then updated all the AX3s and it worked like clockwork on the night. Thankfully, Astera LED develop rock solid products which are reliable and versatile for a rental company working across multiple sectors,” he concluded.
