W-DMX At Nobel Prize Banquet

After an impressive year including the Winter Olympics, the World Cup Opening, and even a visit from the Pope, Wireless Solution Sweden AB finished off 2006 with the King of Sweden and the Royal Family. The 2006 Nobel Prize Banquet—Sweden’s highest profile event of the year—was given a fun, fresh glimpse of the entertainment lighting industry without disturbing the architectural elegance of Stockholm City Hall. This, of course, required clever rigging and wireless technology, and W-DMX was there to help.

Stockholm-based Spectra Stage & Event Technologies supplied all lighting, AV equipment, and crew for the exclusive event. Spectra took the opportunity to utilize new technology, special products, and creative ways of using current equipment.

The entertainment for the event was Dansens Hus, a contemporary dance and performance art company from Sweden. The modern style provided the opportunity for new approaches in lighting and video, but still had to fall within the guidelines of the Nobel Foundation. For this reason, all of the equipment was chosen for very specific purposes, fulfilling requirements from both a creative standpoint as well as for aesthetics.

Fourteen SGM Giotto Synthesis with OEM installed W-DMX from Wireless Solution were used for both stage lighting and special effects. The units were hung from two pieces of mini beam, flying from carefully rigged truss sections installed in two corners of the ceiling. Production manager Ola Melzig explaines, “W-DMX is a life saver. We needed moving lights in the ceiling but had to avoid excess cables. The receivers are built right into the SGM Synthesis—such a bonus.”

Niclas Arvidsson of Wireless Solution explains, “We can build W-DMX into any product really, it’s a simple OEM specification. The Synthesis was actually the first product on the market that offered W-DMX as a built-in option and it has been a huge success.”

During most of the night, the Synthesis moving lights provided stage light for the performances, but went full force during the final dance act, swirling in all colors for a circus-like atmosphere. The effect was enhanced by 22 SGM Ribalta LED strip lights, mounted on custom-made brackets that provided a flickering strobe effect, complimenting the ultramodern music. Everything worked without a single problem. Melzig says, “Even with the challenging architecture, we didn’t have a single interruption of signal. The final dance scene was fantastic.”

Lighting designer Per Sundin agrees, “Whereas last year had a more formal feel, with an a cappella choir and subdued lighting, this year we were able to use bold colors and even implement strobes and moving lights—something I never would have pictured for Nobel, but they loved it.”

Filippa Reinfeldt, wife of newly elected Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, was a guest at the banquet, clearly impressed with the results. In a post-dinner interview by Swedish Television, she stated, “The lighting was just so lovely, I kept staring at it all through dinner. I’ve never seen City Hall look so beautiful.”