Bratislava’s new year celebrations, held in theheart of the Slovakian capital at the Rázusovonábrežie (the banks of the River Danube) were brought to life by a spectacular lightshowmasterminded by Kvant Show Production.

The laser specialists, who are also PRLighting’s distributor for Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia, have been the eventlighting contractors since the concept was introduced three years ago, and inaddition to their own lasers, 24 pieces of PR Lighting’s AQUA 580 Beam helpedprovide a spectacular show as the city counted down to 2020.

Organised by Biela Noc (WhiteNight), the artistic department of the Slovakia and Bratislava municipality, acrew of around 25 people were responsible for creating the infrastructure,including Layher structures, lighting, sound and lasers, and all programming.

This year’s event wasbased on an original design from BranoBernar of Showmedia, with lighting andlaser choreography and programming this year undertaken by Kvant’s MartinGabco. The main timecode show lasted seven minutes and was designed as thecountdown show for the midnight new year celebration.

The PR Lighting AQUA 580 Beam is anIP66-rated moving head, producing a powerful output from a 550W engine, housingPR's patent optics and a tight 2° beam angle. Stated Kvant CEO Michal Simkovic, “Themainbenefit of these fixtures is their IP rating; since they are waterproof thereis no need for rain covers. In addition, the power of the beam is impressive,as is the price, while the prism is both visible and sharp.”

These lights formed an essential part ofthe timecode show, in combination with the lasers. “Where once lightingprovided the background and lasers took centre stage, now it is the reverse,with lights taking the dominant role and boosting the impact of the sourcemusic,” Michal continued.

EightSpectrum30W lasers and four ClubMax 10W were used in combination with programable LEDtubes. Everything was suspended on a Layher truss system which was 28m wide and7m high. Pre-programming took three days in Visualiser with two days of finetuning on site. Lighting was controlled from a grandMA2, while LED tubes,Madrix and lasers were under the control of Pangolin Beyond, which was also thesource of timecode for the entire show.

Summingup the success of the event, WhiteNight’sKarolinaDoktorikova,said, “Thelightinginstallation on the banksof the Danube communicated brilliantly with the surrounding architecture andvisitors. The digital signage, with the countdown timer, went very well withLED tubes, lasers and lights which looked impressive, majestic and elegant, inconnection with music and final scene of fireworks.

“From White Night’s perspective we are very happy with ourannual cooperation with Kvant Show Production and with their technologicaldesign, and the premiere of PR AQUA Beam 580 which demonstrated perfectly themagnificent New Year's Eve panorama of our city.”