For two spectacular nights only, Huawei, the global technology leader, delivered the Southern Lights to Sydney at the iconic Royal Botanic Gardens.
Situated in front of The Calyx, Laservision Mega Media partnered with the renowned Swiss Social Artist – Dan Acher to create the mesmerizing bespoke light show titled ‘Borealis.’ This unique effect required specialist technologies and knowhow to recreate this breathtaking natural phenomenon, immersing the audience in the experience to create a stunning spectacle reminiscent of the Aurora Australis.
The recreation of this breath-taking phenomenon was designed to showcase the unparalleled photography capabilities of Huawei’s latest HUAWEI P30 Series phones.
“It is an honour to be partnering with Dan Acher to deliver the spectacular ‘Borealis’ activation in Sydney. Creating truly unique experiences and activations is what we love to do and it was amazing to watch the publics reactions as they interacted with the installation,” said Laservision’s CEO Shannon Brooks.
HF Event Services partnered with Laservision Mega Media to provided lighting and audio for this prestigious event including the incredible amount of haze required to ensure the effectiveness of the Borealis.
“As you can imagine, generating that amount of haze in unknown weather conditions is not easy,” commented Colin Baldwin, Managing Director of HF Event Services. “One big gust of wind can blow it all 
away!”
The Team decided to use 16 x Look Solutions Unique Hazers along with 10 x JEM DMX Fans mounted on truss uprights in order to create the perfect mix of particulates in the air to produce the desired effect.
Infrastructure included the installation of three giant scaffolding towers for the Borealis lasers which were required to be at equal heights which proved challenging on the uneven and sloping surface. Added to that were 12 x three metre tall truss uprights that became haze platforms plus another six hazers in various positions to try cover the space above the audience and in front of the Borealis effect.
“I was faced with the dilemma of how to get DMX distributed to all of this gear as it’s such a large outdoor area,” added Colin. “I remembered the ShowPRO LED Fusion Pars were not only IP65 rated, they also had inbuilt W-DMX. We quickly did a test passing W-DMX through one of them into a Unique Hazer sitting next to it and it worked perfectly.”
Impressed by the ShowPRO LED Fusion Pars, Colin promptly purchased 12 saying they are the ideal fixtures to light event signage and receive / pass W-DMX to hazers and fans.
“We put one U
nique Hazer, a DMX Fan and one Fusion Par on each tower and only had to run power to each of the towers bouncing the W-DMX from the console,” he said. “It all worked very well. The Fusion Pars were literally taken out of their box and bolted straight onto the towers. They’re a really good, punchy light.”
Of course the weather was not the best with quite a few showers and strong winds impacting the installation and programming schedule. The wind whirling about inside of the Calyx created some very nice Borealis effects helping to recreate this natural phenomenon.
“With any outdoor activation you are at the mercy of the weather and in particular with this activation the wind. To mitigate this risk, the Team strategically located equipment around site thus ensuring the optimal effect was achieved every night no matter the environmental conditions” added Shannon.
At the Calyx venue a truss grid structure was constructed for Peking Duk’s performance and this was uplit by 18 x Showpro Quad-18 LED pars, providing rich colour to the area.
The production was a huge hit on both the VIP evening and public launch with the venue reaching capacity within 30 minutes of the gates opening.
