Wireless Solutions Sweden AB recently had the opportunity to help with a unique large-scale project in their home country. Täby Centrum, Sweden’s largest indoor shopping mall, has installed a massive Christmas light show on the façade of the building, sequenced to holiday music. During the four-minute show, which repeats every half hour from 4pm to 8pm nightly, Christmas tree lights chase, Syncrolites sweep over the crowd, and giant Blachiere snowflakes flash to the beat of the popular Trans Siberian Orchestra. The inaugural show kicked off on December 4, and runs until December 26.
Stockholm-based Spectra Stage & Event Technologies supplied equipment for the show, which includes 90 Par-64, two Syncrolite B-52, 200 Egg Strobes, 3 Data Flash Strobes, 13 Blachiere Christmas decorations, 3 High End Systems F-100 Fog Generators, 96 flood lights, and 12 Color mixing fluorescents, all controlled with W-DMX.
Ola Melzig, production manager for M & M Production Management explains, ”We needed to view the lighting cues from a pretty good distance—the expanse is huge. All of the power and DMX was coming from the ventilation room on the roof of Täby Centrum, which didn’t allow us to see what the lights were doing. We were able to program from a caravan opposite Täby Centrum, but obviously, running DMX cable across a 75-meter parking lot was not an option.”
The entire show was programmed by Timo Kauristo on a grandMA console. The internal sequencer in the console receives a midi time code from the external music sequencer, which is trigged by the internal agenda of the grandMA. The show is now scheduled in the grandMA internal calendar, and requires no manpower until the last show on Dec. 26.
In one section, HES fog machines rigged with ventilation pipes are programmed to pump puffs of fog via DMX to the beat of the music. ”That’s probably my favorite part,” laughs Melzig, ”watching the green fog puff to the music, with Syncrolites sweeping through—super fun to watch!” Melzig even taped the show and posted it on YouTube.
Ulrika Palm, director of marketing for Täby Centrum is thrilled with the results. ”This is the first time a shopping center has done anything like this, which is something Täby Centrum is particularly proud of. We wanted to surprise the customers and people working here with something new and extrordinary, says Palm. ”The show greets you in the parking lot, which is a very cheerful welcome on a dark and maybe stressful evening,” she continues, ”We wanted to give our customers and visitors the ”Wow!” effect. It makes them happy, and gives them a smile and a good start for great shopping!”