ST. PAUL,
Minnesota — Even in the depths of January, Red Bull’s Crashed Ice event in St.
Paul, Minn., drew more than 100,000 people to a weekend of after-dark
competitive ice cross downhill skating. Spread out over three square miles of
the city center, the massive track and viewing area required hundreds of HARMAN
Martin Professional fixtures to be properly lit. Lighting Designer Paul Guthrie
of Toss Film + Design Inc. was brought in by Red Bull to lead the layout and
design of all the lighting fixtures for the event.
Crashed Ice
takes place four times a year in world-class cities such as Helsinki, Belfast
and Edmonton. Skaters compete in heats of four on temporary 1,500-foot long ice
tracks featuring steep turns and high vertical drops erected in these urban
environments. The track in St. Paul was set up in front of a cathedral – a
backdrop made all the more impressive by high-quality lighting.
Guthrie, whose
expertise lies in concert lighting design for acts such as Fleetwood Mac,
Sheryl Crow and Nine Inch Nails, usually operates lighting cues during a
performance. While Crashed Ice was an unusual project for Guthrie, the
ease-of-use of the Martin fixtures provided a sense of familiarity in a new
territory.
“Our main
workhorse for lighting the area was the MAC Quantum Wash™, which I had only
previously seen in a demo,” said Guthrie. “We had 108 of them, and they worked
flawlessly, especially considering this was one of the first times we’d used
them outside in winter.”
Guthrie cites
the MAC Quantum Wash’s color rendering, beam punch, and low weight as major
factors in his decision to deploy Martin’s new fixture. Primarily used for
audience lighting, the MAC Quantum Washes were mounted on towers along the
track to set the tone of the event. Conversely, the MAC Viper Wash DX™ units
were instrumental in filling in dark sections of the tracks, making the
high-speed races more photogenic.
“The Vipers
added a splash of tungsten to reach into tight corners,” he said. “We also
stationed 52 MAC 2000 WASH XBs™ at the base of the cathedral to emphasize the
cathedral’s dramatic façade and deployed Atomic 3000™ strobes at the beginning
and end of the tracks to draw the audience’s attention.”
Guthrie’s crew
had only 10 days to mount more than 800 fixtures across the huge event area.
While it’s a tremendous undertaking, Crashed Ice is a boon to St. Paul’s
tourist economy.
“After hosting
for four years, the city really loves the crowd that Crashed Ice appeals to,”
said Guthrie. “Martin Professional was just as instrumental in making sure that
the event was a spectacle for the audience as well as a success for the city.”
Martin
equipment
· MAC Quantum Wash, 108 x pcs.
· MAC Viper Wash DX, 22 x pcs.
· MAC 2000 Wash XB, 52 x pcs.
· MAC Viper Profile, 8 x pcs.
· Atomic 3000 DMX, 8 x pcs.
For more information on the Red Bull Crashed Ice
event series, please visit http://www.redbullcrashedice.com/en_US
For more information, please visit: www.martin.com
As a world leader in the creation of dynamic
lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial
sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin
also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well
as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting.
Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network
with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in
Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and
audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please
visit: www.martin.com.
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers
connected products and solutions for consumers, automakers, and enterprises
worldwide, including audio, visual and infotainment systems; enterprise
automation solutions; and software services. With leading brands including
AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® , Mark Levinson ® and Revel®,
HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where
they perform around the world. HARMAN also is a technology and integration
services leader for the Automotive, Mobile, Telecommunications and Enterprise
markets. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with
HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. The Company’s software solutions power
billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated,
personalized, adaptive and secure across all platforms, from the work and home
to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 25,000 people across
the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.9 billion during the
last 12 months ended March 31, 2015.
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