Adelaide’s largest conference opens with space age technology
The 68th International Astronautical Congress opened at the newly Adelaide Convention Centre’s new Plenary Building with cutting edge technology in the form of interactive performances & 4K laser projection. With over 4000+ attendees, the congress is the largest conference to ever be held in South Australia. And Novatech were proud to assist with the technical solution to welcome the delegates with an engaging performance of local performers.
Adelaide’s Ding Productions & Slingsby Theatre were engaged to create a bespoke opening performance that would welcome the delegates to Adelaide and set the scene for a memorable week ahead. Having previously using technology in their performances, Ding’s Jo Casson worked with Novatech’s Leko Novakovic, to design an interactive setting where the live performers on stage would perform in a holographic environment in a performance entitled “The Journey”.
There have been numerous “hologram” technologies have been around for several years however on this occasion, Novatech took advantage of the latest generation of holographic technology, “Hologauze” that is quicker and more cost effective than previous generations. Working closely with Richard Saunders from Ikonix, the team were able to take full advantage of Hologauze’s unique benefits. Given the importance of clarity and high brightness of the images for the event, Novatech debuted their new 4K resolution, 32,000 ANSI Laser Projectors that provided stunning images that created an illusion of space on stage. The Barco UDX-4K32’s are unique to Novatech in Adelaide and are massive investment in what is the new standard in projection.
The Managing Director of Novatech, Leko Novakovic, commented “We were thrilled to use the latest generations of video projection and holographic technology for an event like the International Astronautical Congress. It was important to provide the very best to the audience that came from the Space Industry around the world and to showcase what Adelaide can offer and produce.”
Leko went on to state “Jo Casson from Ding has a long history with Novatech in incorporating event technology in creative ways and this performance was no exception. Using local companies for such an international event just goes to demonstrate that South Australia is able to compete on the world stage using leading technology & creative expertise”
From a technical point of view, Leko explained “for the vision component, content was run from our d3 4×4 Pro server to both a main & backup Barco UDX-4K projector as well feeding a Di Colour 9m x 5m 4.8mm pitch LED screen. On the lighting side, we used our brand new Clay Paky Scenius Unico’s, ETC Source 4 Lustre Profiles, Clay Paky Sharpies and a couple of 6w RGB full colour lasers all driven from a MA Lighting Grand MA 2 and NPU.”
Creative Producer from Ding Productions, Jo Casson said “Having worked with Leko & team on numerous projects, it was the natural choice to engage Novatech in our creative process for the IAC opening. The ease and cost of the new holographic technology now puts in within reach of even more events. The stunning animation by Brad Pickford and the sensational performances by all the artists left the 4000+ delegates in awe.”
Novatech were thrilled to work with the in-house team at the Adelaide Convention Centre in close collaboration to bring the event to life. Whether you want a holographic performance or simply use projection in creative ways, Novatech has the expertise and inventory to stage events anywhere on Earth and indeed outer space. Well maybe not yet, however we’re sure those working in the Space industry are now motivated to keep inspiring the next generation working in Space.
Photography – Simon Casson
