Viticulturists and wine lovers gathered remotely and online for the 2020 Vinari Awards, an annual celebration of the best in Catalan wines. Hosted by Vadevi in Vilafranca del Penedes, Catalan’s wine capital, the 2020 event transitioned to a hybrid in-person and virtual format to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. With event capacity reduced by one-third to adhere to safety protocols, the celebration of 900 wines from more than 200 regional wineries aired on broadcast television and live streams to reach remote audiences and wine connoisseurs. Production company Deunido LCC oversaw the virtual event and managed simultaneous broadcasts on national public station Televisió de Catalunya and regional broadcaster Cadena Pirenaica, in addition to streams on Facebook Live and YouTube, using a range of AJA streaming, conversion and I/O solutions.

The Staatsschauspiel Dresden in Germany joins a long and growing number of high-profile performing arts venues that are investing in Robe’s T1 series of moving lights, a refined product line tailored to meet the exacting demands of this sector. The Staatsschauspiel Dresden runs two venues – The Schauspielhaus in the old town with 788 seats and the Kleines Haus in the Neustadt area which offers three halls with 400, 150 and 99 capacities respectively plus the Kleines Haus Mitte which can accommodate up to 60 people. The main focus is on theatrical performance, but the vibrant program – in a standard year – will also feature music, dance, concerts and spoken word performances.

The 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition opened on April 19, with the theme of "Embracing Change", revealing the latest trends in future automotive development. In order to cooperate with the Shanghai Auto Show, Porsche used its insight into the Chinese market for 20 years, interpreting historical elements and ingenious integration of innovation, and held the 20th anniversary celebration of Porsche's entry into the Chinese market at the Shanghai International Passenger Transport Center.

DUBAI: Expo 2020 Dubai has demonstrated that it is ready to fully open its doors to the world later this year, after safely and successfully welcoming more than 100,000 visitors to experience Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion. Running from 22 January until 10 April, the limited-time showcase was an opportunity for the UAE community to preview one of Expo 2020’s signature visitor experiences, providing a glimpse of what is to come when the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region welcomes visitors from around the world from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Robe UK followed the current Covid-19 instructions to “stay local”, teaming up with Northampton School for Boys (NSB), the University of Northampton and DroneSwarm based nearby in Daventry to support #LightItInRed’s most recent campaign to unite the UK live events, entertainment, performance, and production industry in solidarity during these challenging times.  

The call was to light buildings, structures, places, and spaces in red throughout the week of March.

The Weizmann Institute of Science is a renowned public research university in Rehovot, Israel which offers graduate and postgraduate degrees in the natural and exact sciences and hosts an annual event honoring the work of Israeli scientists and their contributions to an assortment of projects. This year for the first time, the format went fully digital in delivery – due to you know what – it was still staged at the Weizmann Institute campus’s Sela Auditorium, without a live audience but with as much ‘live’ presentational content as was possible which included lectures, seminars, presentations, Q&A sessions and the bestowing of honorary doctorates and other awards.

Riedel Communications today announced that its Bolero wireless intercom is providing flexible, reliable, and high-quality crew communications at the Opéra de Lille, a neoclassical opera house in Lille, France. Built between 1907 and 1913 and inaugurated in 1923, the Opéra de Lille has placed Bolero at the core of its all-new, future-proof comms infrastructure. “Outstanding wireless communications are vital for the day-to-day operation of our theatre. When it came time to upgrade from legacy UHF technology to the state of the art, we searched for an intercom that could provide optimal functionality and minimal latency in the license-free 1.9 GHz frequency range. That led us to DECT solutions,” said Anthony Toulotte, Audio and Video Stage Manager, Opera de Lille. “Bolero was the clear winner in our deep technical analysis of DECT-based wireless solutions, which included comprehensive coverage and audio quality testing.”

Following the ground-breaking use of Extended Reality (XR) during its December 31^st New Year’s Eve broadcast, China’s national broadcaster CCTV again chose Augmented Reality (AR) solutions from Ross to underpin its recent Spring Festival Gala program welcoming the Chinese Year of the Ox – an event that has again been officially certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s most widely watched TV show.

The deadline for the Prix Ars Electronica 2021 ends today. The Prix, instituted 34 years ago in Linz, is considered the longest-standing, most important competition for the worldwide media art scene. The prestige and influence of the Prix Ars Electronica are due to its wide reach, which allows it to function as a kind of trend barometer. The thousands of projects submitted to the Prix Ars Electronica each year allow us to see what is on the minds of media artists all over the world. “The trend we’re currently seeing is worrying,” says Gerfried Stocker, taking stock of this year’s entries so far. “There’s been a marked decline in submissions, and many personal e-mails show that artists all over the world are under massive pressure and simply don’t have the opportunities to implement or complete their projects.” Museums that have been closed for months, festivals that have been canceled, residencies that have been interrupted or canceled, and inadequate help—or none at all—from policymakers are ongoing problems. “This is having a dramatic effect, not only on the artists themselves, but on all of us,” says Gerfried Stocker. “After all, this isn’t about decorating foyers or blockbuster exhibitions for urban mass tourism—what we’re really threatened with is the long-term loss of thoughtful reflection on our societal development.” That is a particularly sad prospect in a time of massive upheaval. “In the interest of everyone, we must act now to ensure that the critical and innovative potential of art is preserved,” demands Stocker. “Helping artists today means helping us as a society move forward tomorrow. If we don’t realize that, we will regret it very soon and for a very long time.”

Austrian media server expert, AV Stumpfl, has seen its products deployed at an exciting new exhibition at the Singapore Discovery Centre, which was overseen by global brand activation specialist Pico Group.

One of the most exciting things about taking on the challenge of capturing the orchestra at LSO St Luke’s is that we have been able to put together a much-improved system, which in turn has allowed us to take on more creative filming possibilities that wouldn’t have been previously considered. Peter Mycroft, Technical Manager for LSO St Luke’s

A couple of key details: Step 3 (no earlier than 17 May) includes capacity limits of 1,000 or 50% indoor, 4,000 or 50% outdoor, and 10,000 or 25% for seated outdoor. Larger events in step 4 (no earlier than 21 June) will be influenced by the results of an Events Research Programme (point 133 on the document.) We got together earlier with our colleagues in LIVE to issue a reaction to the PM's statement.

The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is one of Germany’s foremost producing houses, highly acclaimed for its cutting-edge work. In the last year, the venue has added 20 x Robe T1 Profiles which are available across its stages, a move specified and overseen by head of lighting Robert Grauel and his team including Linus Zahn who is the lighting systems tech and person in charge of new technologies.

IMAGO, the International Federation of Cinematographers, has successfully completed its distribution of financial grants from Sony Corporation’s Global Relief Fund for COVID-19, in support of the international cinematography community, via its worldwide membership base. The grants were part of Sony’s global initiative to deliver $100 million of support to three main areas: the frontline medical community, children and educators, and the creative community in the entertainment industry. To help reach the latter, Sony approached IMAGO, among other organisations, to distribute a significant part of the fund to its member organisations around the world.

Australian lighting designer Trudy Dalgleish appreciated the quietness and other features of Robe T1 Profiles and T1 Fresnels that are part of the new house rig at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide, which reopened in June 2020 after a major 2-year redevelopment. The State Opera of South Australia’s production of iconic Australian drama Summer of the 17^th Doll … was the first show to utilise the new facilities in the 1467-seat main auditorium – which includes the 24 new Robe moving lights, twelve of each type. The Summer of the 17^th Doll action is set in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton in 1953, focussing on the lives of six central characters.