Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Cisco Live Art

08/10/2019

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
LINK: https://www.live-production.tv/news/products/cisco-live-art.html...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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 Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

15/04/2026

Haivision Launches Falkon X4 5G Transmitters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

JB&A Spotlights Exhibitors Ahead of Pre-NAB 2026 Technology Event

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Wave Central, EVS Announce SMPTE ST 2110 Interop Collaboration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Top Reason for Subscribing to Pay TV Is Live News and TV, Survey Finds

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

NAB Leadership Foundation Honors Outstanding Broadcasters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Wisycom Expands MPR60 With New Multichannel IFB Mode

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Thomas Riedel Acquires Premium Manufacturer ARRI

Strategic Alignment With the Riedel Group for Innovation and Growth Thomas Riedel, founder and owner of Riedel Communications and the Riedel Group, has acqui...

15/04/2026

Iyuno Deploys SDVI Rally Platform to Accelerate and Scale...

SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company's Rally platform has been deployed by Iyuno Media...

15/04/2026

Frequency Leads the Industry in Live Local News on FAST

Frequency, the engine behind many of the worlds leading streaming television channels, has become the platform of choice for leading U.S. broadcasters bringing ...

15/04/2026

Harmonic Introduces Breakthrough AI Orchestration Service...

New Service Simplifies Integration of AI Applications with Exceptional Reliability and Security SAN JOSE, Calif. April 14, 2026 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) t...

15/04/2026

VIDI and Media Links Bring Scalable IP Transport to Germa...

During the 2025 off-season, VIDI completed a major upgrade of the broadcast infrastructure across all 36 stadiums in Germany's 1st and 2nd Bundesliga. The p...

15/04/2026

Clear-Com Introduces Transformational Arcadia and Eclipse...

Clear-Com announced significant updates to its award-winning Arcadia Central Station as well as enhancements to the Eclipse HX Digital Matrix System now runn...

15/04/2026

Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB SHOW 2026

Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB SHOW 2026 Brie Clayton April 15, 2026 0 Comments New system removes PTZ pan restric...

15/04/2026

LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB Show, Adding Direct File Workflow Integration

LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB Show, Adding Direct File...

15/04/2026

This 24-Hour Performance Art Piece Needs Your Participation

This 24-Hour Performance Art Piece Needs Your Participation Keefer Glenshaws latest project is about collaborating with the Berklee community and beyond. Apr...

14/04/2026

ToolsOnAir and Omnistream Bring Mobile SRT Contribution into Professional 24/7 Playout and Live News Workflows

ToolsOnAir and Omnistream Bring Mobile SRT Contribution into Professional 24/7 P...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Haivision Launches Falkon X4 5G Mobile Video Transmitter

Haivision has announced the Falkon X4, a 5G mobile video transmitter for live broadcast and remote production. The device will be showcased at NAB Show 2026. ...

14/04/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Stripe TVs Matthew Pavey on Making Live-Production Tech More Portable, Intuitive, and Accessible

Founded by veterans of the production-truck world, Stripe TV was born out of a d...

14/04/2026

Studio Berlin Adds LDX 135 and LDX 180 Camera Systems from Grass Valley

Grass Valley has expanded its partnership with Studio Berlin, supplying 12 LDX 135 UHD/HDR camera systems and 12 LDX 180 Super 35mm cinematic cameras, including...

14/04/2026

LTN Appoints Mark Romano and Edward Cox to Vice President Roles

LTN has announced two senior appointments ahead of NAB Show 2026: Mark Romano as Vice President, Multichannel Platforms, and Edward Cox as Vice President, Sales...

14/04/2026

Agor and Sennheiser to Deploy Largest Spectera System to Date at Eurovision Song Contest 2026

Sennheiser and Italian rental company Agor have begun preparations for their Eu...

14/04/2026

DAZN and ADI Predictstreet Announce Prediction Market Partnership Ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced a partnership to integrate ADI Predict...

14/04/2026

Deltatre Completes Digital Platform for Serie A as Part of Four-Season Partnership

Deltatre has announced the completion of a direct-to-fan website and app for Leg...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Daktronics to Exhibit with Grass Valley

Daktronics, will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 in partnership with Grass Valley at Booth C2408, Las Vegas Convention Center, April 19-22. Daktronics will showcase a...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Backblaze to Host Partner Showcases

Backblaze will host a series of partner presentations at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N1259, North Hall), open to all exhibition hall badge holders. Showcase partners i...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: BRAHMA AI to Exhibit Enterprise AI Content Platform

BRAHMA AI will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2415, West Hall), demonstrating its Enterprise AI Content Platform for media, entertainment, sports, and technol...

14/04/2026

Bridge Technologies VB440 Integrated into NEP Platform

Bridge Technologies has announced that its VB440 production probe has been integrated into NEP Platform, NEP Group's software orchestration system. The inte...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Clear-Com to Demonstrate Expanded Intercom Ecosystem

Clear-Com will introduce new products and demonstrate its communications ecosystem for broadcast and live production at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5807, April 19-22)...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: EZDRM to Introduce Revenue Security Prism Framework

EZDRM will use NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2260) to introduce the Revenue Security Prism, a framework for combining multiple security technologies to protect streamin...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Telos Alliance Product Preview

Telos Alliance will introduce the following products at NAB Show 2026: TV and Media Telos Infinity MK2 Panels: A new generation of hardware control panels for...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Panasonic to Showcase IP and IT Production Solutions

Panasonic Video and Audio Systems North America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C3509), demonstrating IP- and IT-based production solutions for sports, bro...

14/04/2026

Behind the Mic: WNBA Adds Sue Bird, Sophie Cunningham to Networks Commentary Teams; John Buccigross Signed to ESPN Extension

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces Multiple New Products

Blackmagic Design will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2502). CEO Grant Petty s product announcement livestream is available at youtube.com. The company announ...

14/04/2026

Thomas Riedel Acquires ARRI, Adding Camera and Lighting Component to Riedel Group Portfolio

The deal establishes a close strategic alignment' between the iconic cinema...

14/04/2026

Taming the Untamed: Producing the 2026 Absa Cape EPIC Mountain-Bike Race

BIGSHOT Media, with support from Teradek, produced untamed African mountain-bike race' with daily coverage and highlights show The 2026 Absa Cape EPIC, an...

14/04/2026

SVG Announces Sports AI Innovation Lab to Advance the Use of AI in Live Production

The Sports Video Group (SVG) today announced the launch of the SVG AI Innovation...

14/04/2026

AIR Music Tech release Fabric Vintage Synths Vol.1

Captures a trio of renowned polysynths The latest software to join AIR Music Tech's extensive catalogue captures the sound of three sought-after polysyn...

14/04/2026

United Plugins introduce UnitedFreeBundle

Free offering includes 10 powerful plug-ins United Plugins have announced the launch of a new bundle that brings together 10 of their pro-audio plug-ins, an...

14/04/2026

Celemony update Tonalic

Julian Coryell joins virtual session player line-up Announced at NAMM 2026, Celemony's Tonalic kits DAW users out with real performances by world-class ...

14/04/2026

Supporting Safe Space Flights with WESCAM MX-Series Imaging Systems

WESCAM MX -Series EO/IR Systems Provide Critical Visibility During NASA Re-Entry Operations....

14/04/2026

L3Harris Demonstrates Autonomous Electronic Warfare Capability During US Army Experiment

DiSCO reduces uncertainty during the fog of war in modern threat environments an...

14/04/2026

GOES-19 One Year Later: Protecting Communities Through Advanced Technology

GOES-19 imagery captured by L3Harris-built Advanced Baseline Imager technology helps forecasters issue life-saving weather warnings. Credit: NOAA/NASA...

14/04/2026

Reimagining Earth Measurement for the AI Era: L3Harris and Xoople Develop a New Spacebourne Capability

For decades, understanding the physical world from space has required a trade-of...

14/04/2026

Nielsen Appoints Roberto Ruiz to Lead Measurement Science

Ruiz has helped fuel growth for both client-side and media companies, including, most recently, TelevisaUnivision. He will spearhead transformation, innovatio...