Astera NYX Bulbs help with sculptural solution

40 Astera NYX Bulbs were central to a stunning kinetic light sculpture that was created for London-based creative agency Audience’s design for a recent Deloitte Shared Services Conference (SSC) staged at the Bella Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Audience’s project director for the event, Neil Scrivener, working on it for the third year, explained that the Deloitte team wanted the SSC’s plenary sessions to be staged in the round, which presented challenges for both set and scenic designs as nice clean 360-degree sightlines are vital.

Audience’s creative team, led by Client and Strategy Director Stephen McIntosh, proposed a scheme for a contemporary plenary space incorporating two large 20-metre-wide x 4-metre-deep LED screens with a special ‘light feature’ above the stage.

They then worked with Neil and lighting designer Paul van dan Heijkant – working on the event for the second year – to produce some options for the lighting feature that would incorporate a degree of movement. They specifically wanted a concept that looked slick and streamlined as well as having a serious WOW factor.

After some brainstorming between the full creative team and lighting rental vendor Nordic Rentals – working in conjunction with PSP from the UK – the multi-sphere lighting feature emerged.

It comprised 40 x 40 cm diameter spheres internally lit with NYX Bulbs that could individually be animated using one of Nordic’s DMX controlled Walberg Winch 10 systems.

With the NYX Bulbs’ colour mixing capabilities, this gave the option of dynamic and interesting lighting looks happening above the stage and the presenters that could also be used in different formats and colours to highlight different sections of the event happening onstage.

The idea worked particularly spectacularly for the opening video sequence, where the moving NYX Bulb spheres move synchronously with the graphics and titles of the content produced by Matt King.

NYX Bulbs were selected for their size, weight and because they could be easily rigged in the spheres via a bracket and catenary wire attached to the winch … and because of their excellent quality of light, smooth colour mixing and the battery powered operation.

It was the first time that both Paul and Neil had worked with NYX Bulbs, but they both had previous experience with other Astera production, including AX1 and Titan Tubes, for which they previously utilised around 300 luminaires for a TwitchCon event in Berlin and others.

“They were a perfect and flexible combination with the spheres,” stated Neil, adding that they could be charged continuously via an internal charging wire fixed to the winches.

Other products from Astera on the project included AX1s and Hydra Panel products with soft boxes which were rigged in the SSC Studio.

The Hydra Panels were used as front and soft lighting, complete with soft boxes and barn doors. The fixtures were positioned on floor mounted stands to provide direct font light, as rigging them on ceiling trusses would have been too high.

AX1s provided excellent back of shot and general eye candy and assisted the designs of various installation set pieces.

A frequent – albeit indirectly – Astera product end-user, Neil commented, “They’ve proved reliable and highly effective in so many scenarios, so we had no hesitation specifying them for this. We have also used the Hydra Panels and AX1s on a previous SSC event in Lisbon for the SSC event and know Astera has some great and ultimately useful products!”

Around 900 guests attended the plenary session in person and the event was streamed globally.

The studio was used for live broadcasting the event and featured cutaways, extra’s introductions and exclusive interviews with speakers and key players relevant to the shared services sector. This year’s special guest was astronaut Tim Peake.

Jes Hylby was Nordic Rentals’ project manager. Emil Haugue crew chiefed a lighting team of 16 on site, and Nordic CEO Torben Pedersen was also involved hands-on with ensuring the entire project ran smoothly.

Neil concluded, “As always, I’ve enjoyed leading this project and seeing the visuals come to life. Our client at Deloitte absolutely loved the plenary design and the impact the moving globes had over the stage – their feedback has been outstanding.

We were blessed with a brilliant project management team from both PSP and Nordic, who worked closely as a solid team for several months. Both PSP and Nordic’s on-site teams were excellent, and nothing was ever too much trouble! As we begin the design process for SSC2024, I look forward to working with everyone again!”

Photo by Adam Stewart & David Woodcock.