Four nights of utter enchantment was planned in December for Lyon’s most famous
festival to date, broadcasting the heritage of the city. However, due to the recent
tragic events in Paris, the Festival of Lights was cut short to a one-day tribute to the
victims on December 8th, inviting people to stand united and light candles while the
city became illuminated for that one evening at La Colline de Fourviere.
Rental company GL events Audiovisual was tasked as supplier of lighting, while also
being an official partner of the light festival. “We were very surprised and honoured
to be the only company selected for this year’s edition. Both the project and the site
has worked wonders in our favour’, said project manager Frederic Fuentes.
Together with lighting designer Daniel Knipper, the two men used solely SGM LED
lighting equipment for the show. A mix of 40 x Q-7 combination flood/strobe/blinder
and 12 x G-Profile LED framing moving heads, both fixtures being IP65-rated, thus
worked in a beautiful interaction with PIGI video projectors.
Lighting designer Knipper explained: “We installed 10 PIGI video projectors for the
Palais de Justice. I worked out the lighting concept for chevet de la Cathedrale St
Jean, du Jardin de Rosaire and du chevet de la Basilique de Fourviere. These
installations allow me to link light and images, controlling and dimming so the light
interacts with the projected images. That is how I have been working with the two
products from SGM; the Q-7 and the G-Profile.’
Knipper’s light show called “Regards’ was the only piece to be maintained as all
other activities were postponed to the upcoming 2016 edition.
This was Knipper’s first time to work with the SGM fixtures. With previous
observations of a P-5 installation in Dubai, he knew that SGM products would
provide him with the reliability needed to adapt to the very tough requirements of
architectural lighting.
“The idea was to work with a solid colour palette together with the raw materials of
the building structures. The Q-7 was a very appropriate fixture thanks to the
richness of its colours, allowing me to pick up any adequate colour with precision
having the products do exactly what I ask of them. That combined with a great
spread angle makes it possible to achieve a beautiful coverage of the area,’ said
Knipper.
Working on this heritage site proved challenging at times. The complexity of the
building surfaces demanded additional attention in order to achieve uniform and
powerful renderings. Also, the IP-rating was essential along with the zoom range.
“The G-Profile completely matched these requirements,’ concluded Frederic Fuentes
pleased with its powerful output and high quality of both framing and gobos.
The two lighting professionals were well-satisfied with the results achieve by
deploying SGM LED luminaires. “The gain was much more effective compared to
previous installations on these buildings,’ summed up Fuentes underlining the great
team effort behind this tribute event. “Only team work will allow us to transform an
artistic concept into a quality event in an urban environment; each person played an
important role in the setup of this event for this very particular happening for this
years’ edition.’
