Absen Steals the Show at F te des Vignerons with the World's Largest LED Floor posted: 09/10/2019
Absen, VISS Display and Alabama combine to deliver the world's biggest LED floor for a once-in-a-generation Swiss spectacular
An event like no other, the F te des Vignerons is held once every 20 years at a temporary stadium at the edge of Lake Geneva. The celebration, which features a vast troupe of performers donning elaborate costumes, as well as animals and vehicles, is held every day for a month to honour the winegrowers of the region, which stretches from Lavaux to Chablais in Switzerland.
Organised by the official Brotherhood of Winegrowers - la Confr rie des Vignerons - the show represents a year in the life of the vineyard through 21 action-packed scenes. This year's event also received a technological boost in the form of a gargantuan LED floor from Absen subsidiary VISS Display, provided by rental house, Alabama.
Record Breakers
As two decades have passed since the last F te took place, the 200-strong technical team had to ensure that the 2019 edition lived up to expectations, as well as demonstrating the best of the last 20 years in live event technology.
With this in mind, a temporary 20,000-person arena was constructed in the Swiss town of Vevey to house more than 5,500 volunteer performers and 900 singers and musicians from the area.
I grew up in the area and everybody around this region knows about the F te des Vignerons because it is so unique, said the F te des Vignerons technical director, Francois Mottier.
After the installation of the first technical elements in May 2019, the project evolved for budgetary reasons as well as from a creative perspective to guarantee it was in line with the vision of artistic director, Daniele Finzi Pasca - the designer behind the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies in Turin and Sochi as well as some Cirque du Soleil productions. To allow the technical team to understand the key themes and narrative, workshops were carried out alongside event organiser, Confr rie des Vignerons.
As they requested both day and night-time shows, a more powerful visual solution than high-end video projection was required, which sparked Mottier's suggestion to incorporate an LED floor.
I was already in contact with French event specialist Alabama, so I asked for their product recommendations, he said. We pushed to move in the direction of LED because we wanted to use something different and believed it was capable of adding plenty of visual power to the show. Plus, at 800 sqm, it would become the biggest LED floor ever deployed for an event.
With heavy vehicles such as tractors being driven on the surface while cows, horses and carts and goats were led around the arena, it was essential the 3,132-panel LED floor was robust. Extensive tests were carried out in extreme conditions such as high temperatures to ensure the floor would be hard-wearing and perform well in the sun before the team opted for LF7 Pro 4,500 nits LED floor panels from Absen subsidiary, VISS Display, weighting 66 tonnes with the frames.
The product was co-developed with Alabama, which supplied all video equipment for the arena. As well as covering almost the entire floor area with outdoor LED, the company supplied 150 sqm of Absen AT5 Pro outdoor LED screens in the form of columns at the top of four stages; provided a visual technical control system based around Barco's E2 system and several Smode media servers; and installed a camera system and return monitoring to ensure a smooth running show was delivered to all screens.
Headed up by Alabama's CEO and project manager for the F te des Vignerons, Dominique Lassarat, the process of developing the product involved creating LED technology that would guarantee images could be clearly seen even during performances taking place in daylight as well as offer controlled electricity consumption.
A large fan pushing cold wind from the lake underneath the floor helped cool the surface by using small micro particles of water that evaporate to reduce the heat. Additional fans were positioned above ground around the edge of the floor to control fog used in the production.
The system was efficient and even on the hottest day, which brought the LED floor temperature to around 75-degrees, we had no problems, said Mottier. I've only worked with LED floors on a smaller scale so this was something really special. We built a slope at the edge to drain the water and constructed a 20-metre long LED platform which could be raised and lowered using a hydraulic system, allowing performers and elements featuring in the show to enter and exit the arena.
Using LED also allowed the production team to display markers for Finzi Pasca and the choreographers, indicating where performers should stand and objects such as trampoline mats should be placed.
To guarantee the floor would perform in the most demanding condition, direct sunlight, tests were carried out in an outdoor theatre using a 3,000 nits version of the VISS product.
I was concerned it wouldn't be bright enough so a 4,500 nits version was developed which is waterproof and can hold 1.2 tonnes per square metre, said Bashiba's Roberto Vitalini, the content creator responsible for the stunning visuals displayed on the LED floor.
A horse managed to crack the concrete floor around the edge of the LED floor which stayed intact. This really shows how durable the product is.
Due to the distance between the audience and the floor, a pixel pitch of 7.8mm was chosen. The smaller you go, the more fragile it becomes and the harder it is to get high brightness and power, so we needed to balance that, added Lassarat.
Using a floor made up of 13 million LEDs - supported by another 5 million LEDs around the edge - the team could guarantee an impressi
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/06/2026
Tennis Channel has completed a transition from satellite-based distribution to a...
02/06/2026
Daktronics has announced the 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day educational event for high school educators and student production teams, taking place Jun...
02/06/2026
Fandango will bring Telemundo's live Spanish-language coverage of the FIFA W...
02/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) has announced the live television schedule...
02/06/2026
Spalk, a cloud-based multilingual commentary and production platform, has announced three new partnerships: Ligue 1 (English and Portuguese highlights), Eurolea...
02/06/2026
NHL Network's 2026 Stanley Cup Final coverage began June 1 with NHL Tonight: Stanley Cup Final Media Day from the Carolina Hurricanes' Lenovo Center at ...
02/06/2026
Matrox Video has announced the Maevex MGX Series, a lineup of IPMX-ready video e...
02/06/2026
Marshall Electronics will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7521), showcasing a lineup of 4K and HD compact POV cameras for corporate, education, hospitality, wo...
02/06/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated have...
02/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C50...
02/06/2026
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced the promotion of Joe Marchitto to Western Regional CTO. In his new role, Marchitto will oversee system design across ...
02/06/2026
The NHL has announced that Brothers Osborne will headline a free outdoor concert...
02/06/2026
CP Communications has announced the appointment of its first two female executives in the company's 40-year history. Tabitha Coleman has been named Vice Pre...
02/06/2026
The Lighting Design Group (LDG) has announced the completion of Studio C at Yahoo's headquarters at 770 Broadway in Manhattan. The studio launched April 24 ...
02/06/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Z) has announced a partnership with FIFA to broadcast FIFA World Cup 2026, FIFA World Cup 2030, FIFA Women's World Cup 2...
02/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and repo...
02/06/2026
The department is broadcasting NCAA Baseball Super Regionals at Plainsman Park this weekend
Broadcast and production crews at Division I institutions are busy ...
02/06/2026
The initiative is extends beyond the league's arenas to team training rinks,...
02/06/2026
Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Pen lope Cruz, and Edward Norton appear in The Invite by Olivia Wilde, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Co...
02/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
02/06/2026
Powerful new vocal-production tool announced
Described as a vocal performance station , Klevgrand's latest plug-in combines pitch-correction with harmo...
02/06/2026
Launched alongside Go Green sale extension
McDSP have just released the latest addition to their APB line-up, DC-2 Dual Compressor, and have also announced ...
02/06/2026
Create custom tools for Ableton Live 12 Suite
Ableton have just introduced a new open JavaScript toolkit that allows anyone to create their own custom tools...
02/06/2026
Now features full H90 algorithm library
Eventide have announced the upcoming launch of the H9 Harmonizer Gen 2, a new and improved version of their hugely p...
02/06/2026
Plus UAD Half Yearly Sale now live
The latest arrival to the Universal Audio range delivers a new native pitch-correction plug-in that's capable of deli...
02/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to present comprehensive performance, conformance and spectrum-m...
02/06/2026
BTL Laboratory becomes Taiwan's first test house with a CTIA Certification c...
02/06/2026
blueCORE standalone processors headline solutions designed to simplify the trans...
02/06/2026
If you've kept up with this article series, you know by now where to start w...
02/06/2026
With new DSP configurations and flexible licensing options, Calrec is removing the barriers to virtualised audio, giving broadcasters the freedom to scale produ...
02/06/2026
The TV agency was one of the earliest adopters of Nielsen's local television...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Grass Valley today announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP to transform its newsroom produc...
02/06/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, announces its new Model 385 Mic/Intercom Beltpack. The Mode...
02/06/2026
The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 2...
02/06/2026
More signals, higher quality, and outstanding ingest and streaming flexibility deliver professional results in a small, all-in-one footprint...
02/06/2026
farmerswife will be featured on the Modena Media & Entertainment stand at this year's Mediatech Africa 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to explore the l...
02/06/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17 19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Wuppertal June 2, 2026
Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel N...
02/06/2026
Back to All News
Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub
Product
02 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Dear most vor...
02/06/2026
New LinkedIn Data: 90% of C-Suite Leaders are Continuously Building Skills to Lead in the AI Era Published on Jun 2, 2026 Categories: Data and insights
Lin...
02/06/2026
Trust has become a commercial issue With global advertising spend forecast to exceed US$1 trillion this year*, the commercial consequences of weak governance co...
Absen Steals the Show at F te des Vignerons with the World's Largest LED Floor posted: 09/10/2019 
