
Tree of Codes, based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, was the opening programme at the most recent edition of the New Vision Arts Festival at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Lighting designer Rob Halliday employed a range of ETC lighting products to bring the performance piece to life, including the Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr spotlight and Eos control system.
‘From early discussions about the show, it felt like we would need to create white light but with the ability to just subtly shift that white,’ said Halliday. ‘Also, that there would be moments where we’d want to move into deeper colours. The Lustr felt like the perfect tool for that, able to get to any colour but for all of those colours to have the richness and life, particularly when lighting human skin, that we have for so long enjoyed from tungsten Source Four fixtures. It was the perfect choice for the show.’
Halliday had prior experience in using the Eos control system to manage rigs on other shows. ‘Eos works in a way that just feels comfortable when creating theatrical shows, while also letting you work very quickly in the often limited time you have to create those shows. ‘It is particularly powerful when working with the Lustr fixtures, since the calibrated colour library allows you to set the Lustr fixtures to match gel colours you are familiar with, and to precisely control fades between colours. The powerful group controls also let us easily create graduations or wipes across our cyclorama.’
An Eos Ti main console was paired with a Gio @5 console for the Hong Kong performance of Tree of Codes. Data was carried from the console to rig via ETC’s Net3 networking system, which was already in place at the venue, while additional Net3 DMX gateways were provided.
The rig was installed by a team led by Hong Kong-based production electrician Maggie Law and the show’s UK production electrician John Delaney; Andy Tsui was the production manager for the New Vision Arts Festival; and Jim Leaver the production manager for Manchester International Festival.