Worlds in Transition – Cameo stages opening of Jude Griebel exhibition in France

On April 20^th, the peace and quiet in the former French Carmelite monastery “Le Carmel Pamiers” was over. For the opening of the solo exhibition “Mondes Brisés et en Transformation” by the Canadian sculptor Jude Griebel, the French event service provider Audio-Lum staged a 45-minute show of images and sounds in the inner courtyard of the monastery that completely captivated those present. For the elaborate lighting design, Brice Bouviala, Audio-Lum and the artistic director and curator of the exhibition, Sébastien Adrien-Gonzalez, relied mostly on moving lights and PAR fixtures by Cameo.

Cameo Light stages opening of Jude Griebel exhibition in France OPUS S5 Spot Moving Head FLAT PRO 12 G2 PAR Spotlight

“When I first entered the monastery, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place,” recalls Brice Bouviala, a freelance lighting designer who regularly works with Audio-Lum. “The building has a natural grandeur and magnificence that is perfectly captured and enhanced by the spotlights.” The overarching theme of the Jude Griebel exhibition was ‘Ecology and the impact of human behaviour on nature’. “This meant that it was clear from the outset that we would rely entirely on energy-saving LED spotlights.”

Windows, columns and arches

For the basic lighting of the multi-storey monastery building including the inner courtyard, Brice Bouviala relied on a combination of ZENIT W600 LED outdoor wash lights, ZENIT Z120 G2 RGBW COB-LED PAR spotlights and FLAT PRO 12 G2 RGBWA LED outdoor spotlights. While the ZENIT W600s at ground level illuminated the cloisters, the ZENIT Z120s were used to illuminate the column arches. “Because the zoom range of the Z120 extends to a narrow 7°, we were able to precisely target the arches without overshooting onto the adjacent walls.”

“The ZENIT W600s were a great help. They are lightweight, easy to install, have excellent light output and allow quick filter changes.”
Brice Bouviala, Lighting Designer

For Brice Bouviala, the architecture of the monastery with its symmetrical window arrangement played a decisive role in the elaboration of the lighting design. “It was obvious that we placed one spotlight in each window opening.” This task was performed by a total of 56 FLAT PRO 12 G2s, which were positioned on tables in the respective rooms.

“The FLAT PRO 12 G2 are extremely flexible and compact, yet have an impressively high luminous flux.”
Brice Bouviala, Lighting Designer

OPUS S5

The twelve OPUS S5 spot moving heads had a special task. They were arranged on the first floor on the window sills and projected gobos onto the opposite façade in each case particularly to dynamically emphasise the multimedia show’s rhythmically influenced songs. “The S5s are real powerhouses and yet amazingly light,” Bouviala explains. “For this project, weight played an important role as we had to carry the moving lights up and down the stairs manually. Even though the S5 was our biggest unit in use, we were able to carry the spotlights alone.”

With the opening show in the monastery of Pamiers, the creative team around lighting designer Brice Bouviala, artistic director Sébastien Adrien-Gonzalez and technical director Olivier Cassagnettes created an impressive production. With comparatively few spotlights, Bouviala created an enormous range of lighting moods, from spherical, large-scale gobo projections to harsh industrial-style strobe effects.