Clay Paky's lights were the big stars of the Circle of Light Festival. The distinguishing feature that determines the success of this major international event, which is held annually in Moscow, is visual technology (video and lights) applied to the metropolitan context. In 2014, the event drew no less than six million people!

This year's Circle of Light was held from 27 September to 4 October and entailed setting up several stages all over the city of Moscow, including one that consisted of a bridge over the Moskva River, and another at the Ministry of Defence Building. The numerous visitors could enjoy two highly spectacular light shows every day!

Top and bottom: Clay Paky lights illuminating parts of Moscow's Circle of Light Fetival. (All photos courtesy of Clay Paky)

Lighting Designer Aleksey Zhuravlev from Global Show Trade explained that the importance of the event has grown exponentially in recent years. His work was so highly appreciated last year that he was asked to play an active role in the organization of the project this year, and he was able to make a significant creative contribution.

He told us: “Last year I chose Supersharpys, which had just been launched on the market, and both the operators and the audience were literally left speechless when they realized the power that these little lights could unleash in the skies over Moscow. This year I wanted to take a step further and chose the Mythos, an incredibly powerful and versatile light.”

Clay Paky lights illuminating parts of Moscow's Circle of Light Fetival.

The lighting designer therefore put together his own set of lights, supplied by various rental firms. A total of 150 Mythos units were used for the two stages, 100 of which were arranged in an arch shape on the bridge and fifty on the Defence Ministry building. Sixty-eight A-Leda B-EYEs and forty A.leda Wash K20s were also installed.

Aleksey explained that using the Mythos units, like with the Supersharpys last year, allowed huge energy savings, which transformed into a greater amount of usable light: “to have an equally bright light beam, I would have had to go for 2000 W models upward, which are much more expensive, bigger, heavier and bulkier. Clay Paky models are very compact with fast movements, and can even be housed under IP54 polycarbonate covers for small lights, like the Clay Paky Igloo, which we used a lot of.”

A building lit up with various 3D projected lighting images and colors. (All photos courtesy of Clay Paky)

Videos also played a fundamental role in the Circle of Light event this year: “We lit the Ministry of Defence building with a single video projection, setting a record for the 'world's largest façade illuminated with a video projection'. For next year, I have a lighting designer's dream: I hope to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the outdoor light show with the largest number of lights ever," continued Aleksey smiling.

Slawa Gartung, Clay Paky Area Manager for CIS countries, says: “I am very happy to work with a Lighting designer like him together. He is always trying to take the maximum of his available tools. It is also a big pleasure to make plans and to talk about fantastic and "crazy" ideas with him”.

Top and bottom: Lighting projections transfrom a building into a ship (top) and into a radio (bottom).

Contact: Davide Barbetta davide.barbetta@claypaky.it