This year, lighting designer Marek Papke from GERDON design, alongside technical service provider schoko pro, crafted the remarkable main stage concept for NATURE ONE. Key to this achievement was the use of Syncronorm’s Depence software, which allowed the team to pre-visualize and optimize every lighting and video element well before the event. Depence enabled the designers to see exactly how their creations will look in real-world settings. This capability was crucial in ensuring that the lighting rig, which extended not only over the main stage but directly above the audience, was perfectly positioned to provide a seamless, 360-degree visual experience.
Papke explains that the festival organizer, I-Motion, wanted the Open-Air Floor to feel like a true club environment. To achieve this, the lighting and video design didn’t just focus on the main stage but also included a lighting rig directly over the audience, creating an immersive overhead visual experience. Pre-visualization through Depence played a pivotal role in bringing this to life, allowing the GERDON design team to simulate the complex lighting setups and optimize the effects from various perspectives, ensuring flawless execution of the production. In recent years, the central stage at NATURE ONE has also featured a pyramid-shaped truss construction, originally designed for circus tents but re-engineered for the festival’s needs. This structure, enhanced with lighting and video elements, is a centrepiece of the festival experience. Depence allowed the team to adjust early on, avoiding last-minute changes and streamlining the setup process on-site. The design aimed to incorporate a strong architectural theme, with clean, structured elements like Layher scaffolding angled at 45 degrees to create a skyscraper-like appearance. GERDON design also developed custom video content for the festival's three large LED walls (6x6 meters each), blending visuals with lighting fixtures and construction.
The lighting setup relied on powerful equipment like the outdoor-ready Cameo OTOS H5 Hybrid Spot-Beamlight, which shaped the lighting on the main stage and pyramid structure. SGM Q-8 strobes and floodlights enhanced the lighting along the stage’s outlines, floor, and the pyramid’s center. The team also employed Cameo ZENIT P130 LSD fixtures to bathe the truss structure in color, while lightweight Martin Aura XIP fixtures added dynamic lighting and effects from above. 160 SGM LT-200 tubes accentuated the architectural elements of both the stage and the pyramid. Using Depence, the lighting design team was able to simulate these fixtures accordingly as pre-programming the entire light and video show in Depence was essential, especially given that many festival attendees view the performances not just from in front of the stage but from various angles, including from nearby bunker hills.
The lighting show was executed using MA Lighting grandMA3 consoles, but the programming still relied on the MA2 platform. According to Papke, their long-standing experience with NATURE ONE allows the team to operate the show efficiently, which also benefits the tight-knit GERDON design crew. The festival is handled with passion and expertise by the team, which includes long-time collaborators like Annika Hinzmann and Florian Grimm on show operations, and Max Schmalenberger, Artur Kechter, and Lennard Jason Thurner on visuals. Felix Heilemann and Marek Papke took charge of show calling, project management, and lighting design.
Source: EventElevator
