EVENT FOCUS
SPLNTR As Avolites welcomes the industry to an immersive projection installation in Las Vegas’ famed Art District, TPi is on site to witness the capabilities of cutting-edge visual technology.
Over the years, the idea of a ‘showcase’ or an ‘open house’ has become increasingly popular with manufacturers in the live events industry, with companies opting to take over a space to display the capabilities of their offerings in a controlled environment. In November last year, lighting specialist Avolites took this concept further with SPLNTR. A creation from the minds of NEICO’s Ed Shaw and Brett Bolton, SPLNTR created a stunning immersive projection-mapping project in the heart of Las Vegas’ Art District, with the help of some of the industry’s top brands including Group One, AG Light and Sound, X-Laser, GLP, Robe and Notch. Shaw has had an interest in projection since he worked with 1024 Architecture on the BOOMBOX – one of the first worldwide touring productions of its kind. The idea for SPLNTR came earlier in 2019 when he saw a projection project named POETIC AI by Ouchhh in Paris and decided that, having never seen anything like this in Las Vegas before, it was time to develop his own installation. After speaking to a few people, the vision became a reality and he had the go-ahead with some help from Avolites. “We were looking for an alternative to a trade show that was more appealing to our clients and designers,” stated Stephen Baird-Smith, Sales Manager of Avolites. “At the same time, Ed had the idea for an interactive installation. We’d worked with him and NEICO before on the OMNIA and JEWEL projects, so
we knew we would work well together. It was the perfect opportunity to bring it together.” SPLNTR was a totally immersive experience where the visuals and audio were controlled completely by the individual as they moved through the building. Working alongside Brett Bolton, his team of artists at NEICO, Tom and Satoko Wall of blinkinLAB, Spencer Heron of Rebel Overlay and combined artists from Notch; Shaw’s vision started to take shape. “It’s content and style I don’t get to produce very often in the dance music industry,” explained Shaw. “A lot of visuals you see nowadays are very polished, glossy 3D environments and I wanted to bring it back to a more artistic interpretation of my ideal visuals.” Avolites provided the bulk of media control for the nine HD projectors needed for the installation. This included six Q3 media servers for the individual walls, another for the custom Notch content and two prototype Ai media servers dedicated to real-time generative graphics. X-laser brought its Skywriter HPX M-5 and M-10 lasers and all truss, cabling and data networking were provided by AG Light and Sound. “There was a great response from our co-sponsors,” continued Baird-Smith. “There was a real appetite to get involved with something different and exciting.” TPi Photo: Avolites www.avolites.com 14
