Showlight 2013: A Massive Success

Nearly 400 visitors embraced the mediaeval town for the three days to enjoy a lively mix of presentations by industry professionals working in all areas of lighting and visuals plus some superlative networking opportunities as well as getting a taste of life in and around Český Krumlov.

Various fact-finding and sightseeing visits were an integral part of the Conference itinerary, allowing delegates to see some of the local commerce and business activities first hand.
This included a tour of the city’s famous Baroque Theatre complete with original wooden and rope stage machinery, and other specially arranged visits encompassed pencil and cosmetics factories and a graphite mine.

The visit programme also took in the Mestske Theatre, where Lighting Designer Andy Webb from the UK was commissioned by Robe to produce a special 15 minute live performance with a cast of five, titled “An Enchanted Realm”, which he lit entirely with around 50 Robe fixtures – all of them LED. This was followed by a Q&A session.

The main Showlight venue was in the former Winter Riding Hall of Český Krumlov’s famous castle, a 15 minute walk up from the town centre, with an amazing view from each and every street corner and vantage point.

Monday evening’s gala dinner took place in a large marquee adjacent to the Riding Hall in the attractive Castle Gardens, fortuitously blessed with excellent weather!

As a very special finale to a magical evening, guests walked out to witness the Castle Gardens illuminated by over 2,000 candles, and a specially arranged Baroque firework display set to Handel’s ‘Music for The Royal Fireworks’ overture. 

On the Tuesday, one of the presentations was by leading Israeli Lighting Designer Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi), who spoke about his seminal work in lighting three seasons of the Israeli Opera performing at the foot of Masada Mountain near the Dead Sea.

Each delegate was presented with a coffee table book produced by Robe which told the story of the technical and creative challenges of this extraordinary piece of work. At the end of the Conference, there was a long queue of people for Bambi to sign the book.

The event was a massive success and the feedback has been amazing!

For many delegates, it was also their first visit to the Czech Republic.

Robe’s CEO Josef Valchář comments, “Every other person I spoke to throughout Showlight was saying that they would return to Český Krumlov with their families and friends and also come back to the CZ! It has been a completely positive experience for everyone, and we are very happy and privileged to have been part of Showlight 2013 – it is a real forum for discussion and ideas in our industry, and we were so happy to be able to represent our country in this way”.

Robe UK’s Petra Sefton and other members of the Showlight Committee put in a huge amount of time and effort to ensure everything ran smoothly for the quadrennial symposium, as did Robe’s Marketing Manager Jiri Baros and Daniel Kintzl from Český Krumlov’s Tourist Department.

Immediate feedback suggested that this was the best Showlight ever … and everybody enjoyed a great time in Český Krumlov.