ERIC PRYDZOpposite: Caption.To deliver Tomaszewski’s holographic imager y, Light Initiative designed and
manufactured a lightweight structural and cladding system that provided
high transparency. Applied to its structure, Light Initiative developed a
miniature LED strip and video distribution system, bringing the total weight
of the sphere to a mere 4.6 tonnes.
The inner and outer surfaces of the Holosphere were clad in 806,
LED pixels, equalling 276 sq metres of LED screen surface displaying bright,
custom-mapped animations. With a uniform 16mm pixel pitch, the sphere
achieved an impressive 64% transparency, revealing Pr ydz at the centre of
the action.
Light Initiative’s recent expansion meant that its London HQ was the
perfect place for Holosphere’s creation. The company has doubled its
warehouse space and opened a new fabrication area, within which the
Holosphere was made.
Br yn Williams said: “One of the biggest challenges set by Mark and Liam
was to achieve a high level of transparency while not compromising the
logistical demands of festival productions. To achieve this, the Holosphere
was designed so that the structure and panels fit with millimetre precision
and packed down into just two trucks.
“We designed the individual elements of the Holosphere to be modular
and repetitive, so if a component fails – be that electronics, LED or PSU –
that component can be replaced rapidly,” Williams continued. “This adds
a further level of robustness and flexibility, which is great when you’re
transporting such an intricate yet mammoth object to a festival scenario.”
Upstage to the Holosphere was a 31.2m x 9.6m 9mm pixel pitch transparent
LED screen that enveloped the stage, expanding the spectacle to the edges
of the arena. More than 540 lighting fixtures were used as part of the lighting
design. Groups of fixtures were rigged carefully to trussing, controlled by
automated Cyber Hoists that surrounded the Holosphere, with a daring but
subtle addition appearing as a 1.6m circular rig of fixtures that lowered into
the Holosphere itself to mimic an ‘interstellar explosive experience’.
Ross Chapple, Lighting Director, Co-Designer and Operator for the EPIC
shows, said: “Once we had come up with the Holosphere as the central
show concept, it was my responsibility to work out how we would light Eric
as he performed. My design aimed to emphasise the form of the sphere and
give it some spread into the arena, bringing extra energy and big motion
right out into the audience.
“We built automated spokes that extended out from a central point
of the sphere – the longest of which is 6.5m – and wrapped around to
encompass the Holosphere structure. We also had hundreds of LED moving
head lighting fixtures behind our upstage LED wall, which interacted with
the content and provide high-powered looks behind and around the
sphere, picking up key points in the music and animation. I’m really proud
of the ambitious effects we all achieved.”