“Learning to understand the language of light” was the focus of the sixth Lightpower Open Days event, held in May in Paderborn, Germany at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum. More than 1,000 visitors from 30+ countries flocked to the two day-event that is held every three years and hosted by Lightpower, the international distributor of brands that include MA Lighting, MAJOR, and Rainbow Color Changers, and German distributor of Philips Vari-Lite, Clay Paky, Eurotruss, Slick, Robert Juliat, De Sisti Lighting, Barco, Element Labs, Pulsar, GDS, Prism Projection, DTS, Rosco, Wireless Solution, Safex, ETC, CM, Fülling & Partner, and Doughty Engineering.
While the distributor was able to show off its wares to its guests, Lightpower also held a series of lectures that included talks by lighting designers Patrick Woodroffe (who addressed concert lighting), Rick Fisher (who discussed lighting for theatre), Manfred “Ollie“ Olma (who presented lighting for television), and Jürgen Schmidt-André.
Other sessions included a presentation on media servers and digital lighting by Matt Finke, video designer and CEO of Loop Light; a session about integration and control by MA Lighting product manager René Berhorst; a look at LED products with Lightpower’s own LED product manager Sebastian Fecke; and a discussion on rigging and staging presented by Michael Lück, managing director of Expo Engineering. In addition, Max Keller signed copies of his book Light Fantastic: The Art and Design of Stage Lighting.Guest were also treated to evening performances by bands 8 Ball Aitken from Australia and Germay’s own Barpiano.
Lightpower’s managing director Ralph-Jörg Wezorke comments that the event was the best one yet. “The international press as well as the contributors and guests all agreed that Lightpower Open Days are a leading business forum,” he says. “They offer a convergence of ideas from designers, technicians, and manufacturers, creating a unique chemistry not found anywhere else. This cultivates a valuable information exchange and provides inspiration and motivation that our guests can utilise for their daily work. The whole event was organized by the Lightpower company team, who created an atmosphere that everyone was very happy to be part of, emphasising the fact that we love what we do. I’m very proud of this team”.
