For the past six years, Gala of Happiness has been operating on an interesting premise: to provide an uplifting explosion of musical enjoyment in the darkest depths of winter.
Brought in to create an uplifting visual backdrop for the performance were local production specialists Fluxx Eventing – Animatie, who specified 28 Chauvet Professional ÉPIX Strip IP as part of their lighting concept, all controlled via a ChamSys MQ80 console.
The 2019 event, which was organized by Vayamundo, had an afterparty of epic proportions and showed chart-topping Belgian band Please Don’t Kill The Clown take to the stage at the Kursaal Oostende.
With the goal of the annual Gala of Happiness to foster feelings of well being and enjoyment as an antidote to the long winter nights, Fluxx Eventing – Animatie utilized the ÉPIX Strips IP to develop an uplifting visual aesthetic.
Thanks to their ability to create warm white wash effects – in addition to a multitude of pixel mappable looks thanks to the fixture’s 50 pixel mappable LEDs – the 1m long ÉPIX Strips IP served as a luminous interface between the music and the good vibes within the audience.
“The ÉPIX Strips provided the visual link between the audience, stage and band by giving the whole room a kind of visual consistency,” commented Fluxx Eventing’s Attila Dept. “By working with the linear form of the ÉPIX Strips, we were able to make a simple but highly variable lighting design that looked luxurious and created positive energy.”
Dept and his team positioned the ÉPIX Strips in two arrangements. First, the strips were positioned at the back of the stage in symmetrical quadratic frames at an angle of 45° in a form which came to define the look of the backdrop. And secondly, the strips were positioned in quadratic formations attached to square frames – consisting of single-meter tubes – hung above the audience.
“Thanks to the pixel mappable effects of the ÉPIX fixtures, we could program different patterns to the full width of the stage, which gave a visual coherence to the stage,” continued Dept. “Furthermore, with the additional white frosted filter, we were able to create a lovely diffused effect, which gave a warm and uplifting quality to the illumination, both on stage and above the audience.”
Another advantage of specifying the ÉPIX fixtures was practicality. With simple clip-on aluminium housing giving a number of easy installation options, Dept and his team could practically translate their lighting concept into reality without any major technical hurdles.
“During preparation, we tested several options for our 45° design,” continued Dept. “The ÉPIX was the only solution that appeared both minimal and sleek while being able to be quickly assembled on site.”
As a result of Dept’s inclusion of the ÉPIX Strips within his lighting concept, Gala of Happiness was awarded a harmonic visual foundation from which the afterparty could give good feelings to all.
“We’re always looking for an opportunity to deploy the ÉPIX Strip in a live situation,” concluded Dept. “In the context of the Gala of Happiness, we’re confident that they were able to provide support for the underlying goal of the event: to create good vibes all round!”