A sunset is a beautiful color explosion! This is the type of observation an inspired lighting designer could readily make at the close of the day. In this case, however, the words were uttered by Eefje de Visser in an interview when discussing the sensory and emotional forces that drive her music.
Having worked with the acclaimed singer/songwriter since 2019, lighting designer Randall Diagre understands and appreciates Eefje de Visser’s emotive approach to her art. It is a quality that inspires and invites collaboration, leading to creations that support her songs with evocative visual displays.
The fruits of this creative process were one full display at Pinkpop, where Eefje de Visser was named the festival’s Number 1 act by the Dutch media. Wrapping itself seamlessly around the singer’s captivating performance was an evocative lightshow designed and operated by Diagre, with help from light artist Nick Verstand, who created a remarkable mirror scenic piece that helped define the show’s transcendent quality.
As Diagre recalls, the distinctive design grew of a project organized by Motel Mozaik Rotterdam during the pandemic lockdown. Her tour had been postponed because of COVID, and Eefje was looking for alternative creative projects when Motel Mozaik asked her to work with Verstand. “She asked me to join this collaboration,” said Diagre, “because I know her aesthetic and we understand each other very well.”
Once touring resumed, Eefje de Visser and her team, drew on this experience to create a unique rig that ventured into a new realm. With its intense, often monochromatic palette, gradients of brightness, and an automated circular mirror that changes position (much like the sun moving through the sky). The design can be seen as a living and dynamic piece of art, as well as a lightshow supporting a performance on stage.
When developing the new touring design, Diagre was inspired by the work of David Byrne. “David’s shows have been one of my biggest source of inspiration,” he said. “I love how he works with contrasts. It always seems like he wants to create some kind of optical illusion without using smoke and mirrors. He just relies on the basics, and to me, that is a really good approach to lighting design.”
Key to helping the design team create this inspired look was a collection of 38 CHAUVET Professional fixtures, supplied by Deltarent. Included in this package were 25 Nexus 7×7 Aw fixtures, which are used to endow the mirror with its distinctive almost-translucent quality.
“Initially Nick wanted to use par fixtures with the mirror because of their resemblance to traditional halogen lamps,” said Diagre. “He wanted to place them somewhere so they would shine on the mirror and have their light reflected on the artist. I knew this would be a very energy inefficient construction, so I immediately suggested the Nexus 7×7 Aw, because it comes really close color-wise and because it’s LED.”
“The Nexus 7×7 Aw is also very tightly bundled, so that makes it easier to focus the lights towards the mirror,” continued Diagre. “After Nick showed me his board, I came up with the idea of placing the Nexus fixtures on the floor so we were able to shine the reflected rays of light to anywhere we wanted. As the Nexus 7×7 Aw is square shaped, Nick made sure the column of light was perfectly round all the time by placing a round border on it.”
Lending a sense of visual harmony to the show, as well as adding to its versatility are the rigs six Color STRIKE M fixtures. “A big reason I spec’d the Color STRIKE M is its tilt function,” said Diagre. “This helps with the silhouetting, which was very important to the show. When I use it to light up the curtains, you can only see the silhouettes of the artists. When we tilt the light to the other side, we have a very strong backlight. There are also some clubby moments in the show, and this fixture is great for strobing.”
Diagre has arranged his rig in a box like configuration with back and side drops, an arrangement that provide him with a lot of different shades. Dark space, shadows and colors are all key to helping create the desired effects. “By creating a box on stage with the back- and side drops, I have a lot of possibilities to play with the different shades of the artists,” he said. “That’s why we placed three Rogue Outcast fixtures on the edge of the stage. I use these powerful fixtures for side lighting and key lighting. By doing this, I can ensure that everything is consistent, regardless of how the different stages are set up over the course of the tour.”
Color is indeed a critical aspect of Diagre’s design vision. He notes that it was very important to him that “every show and every picture had the same identity.” Toward this end, he limited himself to using two main colours: warm white, comparable to that from a traditional par, and salmon. The beginning sections of the show are done in the former color, until a pivotal point is reached, and salmon becomes dominant color.
“We’ve been able to do a great many things with this rig to reflect the art work at the heart of the show” said Diagre. “Wes Broersen and Wout Panis who are part of Nick’s crew have been wonderful supporting us technically as we explore many design options, as well as Nico Lameire from Deltarent for supplying the fixtures and solutions. Together we explored a lot of creative options, always being open to new ideas.”
This exploration has allowed the design team to build on the “art of light.” What better way is there to support a gifted artist whose music that grows out of sensory emotions?