Cisco Live Art posted: 08/10/2019
John Featherstone of lighting and visual design practice Lightswitch worked as part of the XD Agency team to help create a stunning high-impact environmental design for Cisco Live! 2019. Featuring a series of light-based artworks, this project was conceived to catch the eye and quicken the pulse of delegates entering the main presentation space at San Diego Convention Center. To do this, Lightswitch used over 400 Robe moving lights - 200 x Pointes, 180 x MegaPointes and 24 x Spiiders.
The massive four-day event welcomed more than 25,000 Cisco power users' from around the world who came to learn about the latest products, services and ideas, to network and be entertained.
The central general session' space was located across two halls of the Convention Center's extensive floorspace, configured to seat around 16,000 people with the presentation stage in a center, in-the-round style.
The lighting and visual effects proposed by John for the project were inspired by Cisco's commitment to thinking outside of the box and often taking bold and audacious steps in the development and pursuit of innovation in the fast-moving world of technology.
With a forward-thinking client and a tech-embracing audience, this gives us the opportunity and the inspiration to think about different approaches every year, explained John, who has lit the event - in different locations - for the previous two years.
Filling a space with 16,000 people takes time - about an hour in fact. So, this year John and XDA Senior Creative Director Julie Schneider hit on the notion of making that essential walk-in period - traditionally considered downtime - a curated and dramatic part of the show.
John and Julie wanted to ramp up the excitement and build a sense of anticipation and drama for what was to come during the presentation sessions.
It needed to be something cool, something that all these top Cisco users could relate to and appreciate, and naturally, spectacular and gripping, explained John.
The headroom available in the convention center was relatively low and whichever way you look at it, the venue is essentially a concrete box. To accommodate this challenge, the XDAgency team hit on the idea of wrapping the space in a vibrant and dynamic interactive art installation that brought atmosphere and excitement into the space.
Integral to achieving the effect were two visual elements. The first was a series of light art works that were created with white PVC pipes - a box that defined the pace and was christened Momentum' by Schneider. These were lit with LED strips on all sides, creating a dynamic piece fusing scenery with art installation.
The second element was an intense grid of lighting fixtures which created a structure of beams filling the space with light, color and texture when activated. This light geometry - including concentric circles, boxes and other fractal shapes - was created with most of the Pointes and MegaPointes spaced out evenly on a 10' x 10' grid over a 160' x 160' space.
The fixtures not used on the inner grid were positioned on four trusses physically framing it (the grid) in the air, and these could reach out to the periphery seats. Taken together, the combination of kinetic movement across the Momentum' sculpture and the Pointe and Mega Pointe beams from overhead represented the notion of networking, data flow and exchange - functions that are at the heart of Cisco's enormous global enterprise and related to nearly all of its products and work in some shape or form.
In addition to those 380 Robes, John - who is a big user and specifier of Robe products - picked 24 x Spiider LED wash beams to internally light a large cube structure flown above the main presentation stage.
This had screen material stretched across on the bottom making it into a giant soft box light effect from above, which thanks to the Spiiders, produced a delicate, beautifully balanced and highly versatile light source for illuminating those onstage. The four external sides of the box were clad with LED video panels for additional dynamics and content delivery.
On the opening day, the pre-programmed lighting performances' were tightly cued to five pieces of instrumental music, featuring everyone from Hans Zimmer to Dave Grohl. The Foo Fighters were also the event's official entertainment, playing nearby Petco Park as part of the guest experience.
On the second day, it had a superheroes and sci-fi movie score theme. The experiences featured added custom video and were chosen to be popular with a tech-savvy Cisco audience. The music was curated by audio designer Dino Ruggerio, and the video content created by Matthew Hemming from Very Good Studios.
The interstitial pieces ran between 2 and 7 minutes long, and spread out over the walk-in hour, succeeded in energizing the audience and creating excitement for what was to follow. It was all about presenting the attendees with something unexpected, commented John.
John loved the fact that the Pointes and MegaPointes complement one another so perfectly and matched so well in quality of light. We all love that Robe family commonality, he stated, adding that it brought a real depth to the production and created amazing geometry in the air above the audience using both types of fixtures.
Lighting was controlled via grandMA2 full size consoles programmed by Lightswitch's Dennis Connors and Mike Robertson. The video playback was run via disguise media servers programmed by Troy Fujimura, assisted by Austin Shapley.
The challenges of the project included sourcing this many Pointes and MegaPointes at the height of the summer touring and festival season, a task handled efficiently by lighting supplier Donny LoDico from Phoenix-based Video West.
Lacey Taylor was the Lightswitc
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
Cisco Live Art posted: 08/10/2019 
