Astera Adds Magic to Bergstrasse Lights Project posted: 23/10/2020
Kirchberg H uschen
Seizing a chance to generate some beautiful light art, positive energy and creativity during the pandemic, Johannes Spie , project manager from technical specialist MKM Event Show Technik based in Darmstadt, Germany, launched a new initiative of his own - Bergstra e leuchtet' (Bergstra e Lights) - to highlight some of the famous Bergstra e mountain route's stunning monuments, historical buildings and public spaces. With events halted, normally busy rental company MKM had an abundance of lighting products including an extensive Astera inventory of AX3 LightDrops, AX5 TriplePARs and AX7 SpotLites sitting in the warehouse, so these were used to support all 12 of the lighting installations which were carefully crafted and delivered over a two month period.
Astera AX7s were used at all locations culminating with a truly spectacular and innovative event at St. Peter's church in Heppenheim.
Everyone in the area knows and loves the highlighted buildings and spaces, stated Johannes, and with tasteful and well-planned lighting and the application of colour they were transformed and could be seen literally in a different light' each time, so people could enjoy and take away new perspectives from their immediate environment.
Auerbacher Schloss
He adds that in a time when events have not been possible, this was a safe and imaginative idea to provide something interesting in which people could engage.
Astera products were of course ideal for the task of lighting these works, with their brightness, long and regulatable battery power and App control, dispensing with the need for running cables and greatly assisting the deployment process in each case.
The Astera lamps are very efficient in saving setup time, and with the AX7s and AX5s being IP65 rated, we were also confident in using them irrespective of the weather! Also, with less cabling needed, the team could take a smaller vehicle full of kit to the location.
Kirchberg H uschen
Up to 200 fixtures - Asteras plus others - were used in most cases to give good and detailed coverage of the buildings and landmarks.
It was so much fun to use the Asteras - they made the set ups extremely quick and efficient, enthuses Johannes.
A grandMA system was used for lighting control, plus the Astera App for quickly setting up the DMX addresses of all relevant Astera fixtures.
Lauter bridge and brook
Johannes was initially inspired to start Bergstrasse Lights by the original light it in red' project kicked off by the #NightofLightDE lighting action in June which saw thousands of buildings illuminated red across the country to draw attention to the challenges and realities facing the event industry during Covid-19.
He chatted to some industry friends and colleagues and everyone was up for creating something new, special and exciting for their community and those living and working in the region.
St Peter Heppenheim
A core team of around 20 people evolved to deliver Bergstra e Lights, including chief lighting designer Niklaus Baur, however the lighting schemes for each landmark were usually discussed by the team including Johannes, lighting operator Jan Gr bener and others before a final plan was devised.
The featured buildings were a dynamic mix! Castles like the imposing hilltop Auerbacher Schloss and the Starkenburg in Heppenheim which is also perched 300 metres above Hessische Staatsweing ter, offering stunning views all around; churches like St. Georg Bensheim and Kirche Zwingenberg; prominent houses and vineyards including the Kirchberg H uschen vineyard; the central bridge and creek in Lauter and both the town hall (Rathaus) and the city park in Heppenheim - each is a unique architectural or landscaped masterpiece in its own right.
St Peter Heppenheim
In addition to lighting these fabulous places for the first time, the project had several other special aspects.
Once up and running and gaining traction via the website https://bergstrasse-leuchtet.de/ and various social channels no-one knew where and when the next illumination would take place,so this element of surprise and anticipation kept people engaged and guessing!
To discover the location, some hints were dropped on Bergstrasse Lights' Facebook and Instagram pages, plus additional clues announced on public radio station hr3.
St Peter Heppenheim Photo
The finale at St. Peter's church in Heppenheim was a favourite installation for all on the team where the lighting count doubled to over 400 fixtures in total, of which more than 220 were Astera - a combination of AX3s, AX5s and AX7s connected via five wireless DMX transmitters.
Often referred to as the Cathedral of the Bergstrasse' the idea was to maximise the impact of this event, so a special concert was staged inside featuring the band Lichtenberg with camera images of the performance projected onto the church's front fa ade for socially distanced onlookers.
Starkenburg Heppenheim
The concert was also streamed on three different Facebook Fanpages - Bergstra e leuchtet, the City's and the band's - as well as on YouTube and on the Bergstra e leuchtet website.
And a series of secret' live-streamed concerts were produced at some of the locations - so Johannes and the team had multiple ways of getting the content in front of people.
The concert livestream concept was trailed for the first illumination at Auerbacher Schloss with the band As far as Low' and intended as a one-off. However, the public response was so overwhelmingly positive that Gregor Ott from GVO Media went on to produce seven concert movies from these spontaneous livestreams (i.e. not revealed in advance) accompanying some of the most dramatic installations.
Starkenburg Heppenheim
MKM Event Sh
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing Vivid Broadcast's audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name ...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
Astera Adds Magic to Bergstrasse Lights Project posted: 23/10/2020 
