Robe moving lights were in action in the main Scenofest Hall of the world-renowned Prague Quadrennial 2007, the International Competitive Exhibition of Scenography and Theatre Architecture.
This is organized by OISTAT (International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians) and is the world’s largest scenographic exhibition.
The event took over three halls of the fabulous Prague Industrial Palace at the Exhibition Grounds to the north of the City. Designed by Bed?ich Münzberger and built in 1891 for the General Land Centennial Exhibition, the Palace is 238m long and one of the most significant Art Nouveau buildings in Europe.
The Scenofest element of the PQ took over the 51m high Grand Hall. It offered students and young theatre practitioners the opportunity to collaborate, produce and perform their work, mixing with and working alongside top professionals.
Scenofest featured two main performance spaces. The first was the 18m high Tower of Babel, built from scaffolding and steel and conceived by Sean Crowley, head of design at the UK's Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Technical design of the Tower was by PQ's technical director Ian Evans, head of technical studies at the RWCMD.
Crowley, Evans, and Jean Guy Le Cat also designed the other main performance space "The Scenofest Stage," built with thousands of Rockwool filled cardboard bricks.
Both these spaces used Robe moving lights as the primary fixtures in designs by Netherlands-based Henk Van der Geest.
The 13m outside diameter cylindrical-style Tower of Babel featured six Robe ColorWash 1200 AT Washes and eight ColorSpot 1200 ATs rigged at several different levels around its perimeter and inside rims. These were essential for illuminating all the performances taking place there.
Apart from being used for individual performances and student works, the Robes were also used for lectures, seminars taking place in the tower, and for the many "Babel Moments" happening throughout the Quadrennial period. They were controlled via an MA Lighting grandMA console, which was taken over by the different groups of students as they presented their shows.
Having a flexible moving light system available for the Tower of Babel was central to the design, according to Van Der Geest. "It had to be a rig that everyone could use in a wide variety of ways and for lots of different effects and situations. "
In the cardboard Scenofest Theatre, six Robe ColorWash 575 ATs were used on one of the FOH LX bars for general lighting and stage washing duties. The other four CW 575 ATs supplied to the PQ were utilized over in the Alfred Vedvove Theatre in one of the smaller halls.
The Robes were supplied to the PQ by Slovakian rental company Q-99 with some coming directly from the Robe factory in Roznov in a deal coordinated by Robe's international sales manager, Harry von den Stemmen, who comments, "It was a great opportunity to associate with one of the most innovative international theatre and performance organizations." The 2007 Prague Quadrennial saw record figures of almost 23,000 visitors over the 10-day show, including 5,000 registered participants and theatre professionals from across the world. A record-breaking 3,700 children attended the PQ and participated in the PQ for Children programme. An estimated 12,000 spectators witnessed the series of live events taking place throughout Prague over the 10 days.