2020 marks a turning point in the 33-year history of the Prix Ars Electronica: for the first time since 1987, the international jury meetings were purely virtual; a movement of anonymous citizens received a Golden Nica for the first time in honor of its innovations and creative digital activism; and every other Golden Nica was awarded without exception to women—another first.

The National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka, Japan, has chosen Riedel Communications’ MediorNet real-time network to drive signal transport for the theater’s upgrade to all-digital video operations. The National Bunraku Theatre is one of six national theaters in Japan and is the country’s headquarters for bunraku, a traditional form of the “Ningyō Jōruri Bunraku” puppet theatre that emerged in Osaka at the end of the 16^th century. In addition to bunraku, the theater also stages performances of buyō and other traditional arts as well as Japanese music concerts and stage plays across two performance halls.

After several months of meetings with industry leaders discussing the return of sports production during the coronavirus pandemic, SVG USA has published the COVID-19 Sports Production Operations Guide. This guide is designed to provide guidance for those in the Americas who may have questions about how to approach some of the challenges that our industry is facing, given the requirements for safety protocols, social distancing, and more.

When it came to specifying a site-wide digital comms upgrade recently, the facility’s long-term head of technology (and resident sound engineer), Samuel Briand, was clear that an expansive Optocore fibre ring solution would best serve the park’s requirements. He explained that previously they had worked mostly in analog but this has now been replaced with parallel Optocore, Dante and AVB networks. “The first consideration was the vast distance,” he said, explaining the background to the specification. “The park is very large, requiring several hundred kilometers of cable length, and it was essential that we could pass the signals without loss of quality and without length constraints.”

#NightofLight2020 was initiated and carefully planned by a team of lighting and AV professionals led by Tom Koperek from Essen-based event marketing agency LK AG to raise awareness of the critical economic plight of the live event industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.Moving light manufacturer Robe lighting enthusiastically supported via German subsidiary Robe DE which also assisted in supplying kit for some key locations from the current demo stock. In addition to the many installations already independently utilising Robe products, the company’s HQ in Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic, and the German office building in Munich were lit up in resplendent red to show solidarity.

#LightItInRed is a UK based direct action lighting protest that is scheduled to take place on the night of Monday 6^th July 2020 … to draw attention to the critical condition of the UK live event and entertainment industry and its need for special government support to see it through to re-starting. The dynamic “creative sector” which includes live entertainment, music, events, theatre, performance, and the arts generates around £110 billion annually (based on DCMS figures) for the UK economy … and is known for its invention, passion, and flair.

With Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide and health authorities urging people to self-isolate and practice social distancing on a massive scale as part of an enormous effort to #FlattenTheCurve of this global pandemic … we are reaching out to industry friends, colleagues, associates, partners, etc., and asking them to share their #StayHome and #QuarantineandChill activities with us during this extraordinary time.

The Gray Room at Special Event Services’ headquarter facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is usually abuzz with activity as the live production and touring company preps gear for upcoming tours and festivals. With the COVID shutdown in March however, the warehouse area turned eerily quiet. Nevertheless, the downtime provided Special Event Services vice president and co-founder Jeff Cranfill the chance to realize a long held ambition for the space.

In stark contrast to video, TV and the movies, Virtual Reality (VR) applications promise experiences that are not only more intense but, above all, interactive and individual too. To launch VR on its way to a huge consumer market share, a considerable amount of R&D work needs to be done. That was precisely the mission of Immersify, a European R&D concortium made up of PSNC – Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (Poland), Spin Digital Video Technologies GmbH (Germany), Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes (France), Visualization Center C (Sweden) and Ars Electronica Futurelab (Austria). After three years, the Immersify project that was funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program is now coming to an end. Some of the project’s results were demonstrated one last time in a live stream from Poland to the Ars Electronica Center’s Deep Space 8K in Austria on June 17th, concluding the developing phase of the project. While Immersify officially ended with a panel at Festival de Cannes’ Marché du Film – Cannes XR, which was being held virtually due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The project partners are already continuing their research on future developments in the field of immersive media.
 

Volksoper is colorful, multifaceted and joyful, providing superior musical entertainment. This historic venue is home to not only opera and theater facilities, but also a to a recording studio and state-of-the-art control room — one of the few performance theaters in Europe equipped with recording and control facilities. And those facilities now also boast a brand-new Lawo mc²56 console, commissioned by Lawo technicians using remote-control technology.

Since 1954, the Institute has hosted weekly outdoor concerts at a country park in Chopin’s birthplace, Zelazowa Wola, offering performances featuring the world’s most prominent classical musicians. Due to this year’s restrictions on live events, the decision was taken to bring the concerts online, with pianists performing in the park’s manor house and streamed via YouTube Live. Live production specialist, Transmisjelive has been responsible for the recitals’ live production for several years, and helped to make the move to an online production format. “As well as moving to an indoor and more intimate location, we also had to manage social distancing requirements,” explains Transmisjelive’s Artur Kuszel. “We reduced the number of personnel on site to a minimum, both for filming in the performance room and in the OB vehicle on site, kept all gear disinfected and made sure the room was well ventilated.”

Hardly any other phrase has been used so often in recent months as that the world will be a different place after this crisis – prophetically, often as a glimmer of hope, more often as a threat. Is this true, and if so, what will be the changes? This question is the focus of this year’s Ars Electronica.

First off, the two have been helping light up different areas around Chicago embracing the “Unite at Night” initiative, with Robe moving lights from their rental partner, JRLX. This nightly sing-along, make-some-noise and DIY lightshow – interpreted as bring what you can fairy-lights, glitter-balls, LED battens, etc. – started spontaneously in and around the city to bring communities together in uncertain times and celebrate the efforts of all heroes on the frontlines helping to keep everyone safe.

Trending in Twitter’s top 3 on the night, the #LightItInRed campaign saw over 670 buildings, monuments, landmarks and structures all over the UK illuminated in “Emergency Red” on Monday 6^th July to highlight the vast challenges facing the live events, music and performing arts sectors. The action was organised – in under a week – by Steven Haynes from Clearsound Productions and Phillip Berryman from The Backstage Theatre Jobs Forum and was a massive success.

AO Drones, the specialist provider of drone light shows, recently played a key role in an unforgettable event to thank Dubai’s frontline workers for their heroic service during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conceived and produced by AO Drones’ Producer, Marco Niedermeier, the event combined a stunning aerial display from AO Drones’ sophisticated drone fleet, plus a special message from emergency services vehicles arranged to spell ‘Thank You’, in both English and Arabic. The whole event was captured in a short film, shot in the style of a dramatic action movie, and shared widely on social media.