At CANK Berlin, Rolf Wenzel transforms 90 JDC2 IP into a flat light installation with dynamically illuminated fields.

At this year’s Telekom Electronic Beats festival in Berlin, lighting designer Rolf Wenzel deployed 90 JDC2 IP hybrid strobes from leading lighting manufacturer GLP to create a striking lighting architecture at CANK, a former C&A department store in Neukölln. The fixtures were embedded in a large-format grid structure, inspired by classic 1980s disco aesthetics. The focus was on dynamically illuminated fields and a video-based display of the versatile spotlights.

The goal of the installation was to utilise the venue’s limited architectural space (3.05 metres of headroom and no hanging options) to create a lighting setup suitable for both DJ sets and live performance. The central element: a 30-metre-wide, three-metre-high podium rack with 90 individually controlled JDC2 IP fixtures arranged in 1 x 1-metre arrays – equally spaced by baffles to create a clean light pattern without glare.

The light wall was constructed from simple metre-long levels stacked on top of each other and fitted with dividers to create a grid-like shelving system. The front was clad with black opera film to ensure clean finishes and glare-free surfaces. The structure spanned the entire width of the venue, lending the space a horizontal expanse, more reminiscent of a club than a traditional concert stage.

GLP’s new JDC2 IP hybrid strobe was deliberately chosen for this application – not only because of its light output, but above all because of its video capability. With the support of Michael Feldmann and Toto Bröcking, GLP’s proprietary Fixture Video Protocol Servers were deployed. These translated the transmitted NDI signal into the GLP-specific protocol and distributed only the relevant image area to each individual device. “This allowed us to not only create flashing surfaces, but also work with fine, delicate structures and transitions, which made the visuals even more exciting,” explains Rolf Wenzel.

Once set up, the entire system ran rock solid and without interruption – thanks in no small part to operator Martin Heining at the lighting desk, and a system crew who, thankfully, had nothing to do to keep the setup running.

“Even though the use of the obscuring opera foil was certainly not a typical application for the JDC2 IP, its power and video capability delivered exactly what I expected from this device,” Wenzel summarises.