Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Ashgabat 2017

Lighting designer, Durham Marenghi used more than 830 fixtures to deliver the two large-scale lighting designs for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG), held at the Olympic Stadium in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The ceremonies, broadcast on the 17 and 27 of September to 57 countries worldwide, featured giant projection-mapped sets, pyrotechnics and sweeping light displays. For the Opening Ceremony, over 7,600 performers told the history of the Silk Road through music and dance, culminating in the lighting of the games’ ‘cauldron’ which burned throughout the 12-day event.

 Lighting alongside projection is a delicate balancing act, as the light levels we use are very low, for AIMAG we rarely ventured above 350 lux. This means that the lights we used needed to be very accurate and optically sound to create the beautiful imagery required in these large-scale productions. One of the largest challenges faced by Durham and his lighting team was illuminating the Opening Ceremony’s projection-mapped central riser, claimed to be the largest of its kind ever built. The riser, dressed in a specially fabricated material, doubled as a giant projection screen for key moments in the performance. These included the dramatic lighting of the AIMAG’s ‘cauldron’ by a torch bearer, riding a specially-trained Akhal-Teke horse, a revered symbol of Turkmenistan. 

The central lift was in the middle of the field of play and it was a real challenge to not draw attention to the set build only a few metres underneath the pit edge when lighting the Field of Play around it. The reliability of our lighting fixtures to retain their focus information was key. In theatre, the drift of a degree may equate to a few inches, but in a stadium this can translate to a few metres, so the accuracy and focus retention of the fixtures was fundamental to creating this effect.

Working alongside Durham was a team of experienced programmers comprising Tim Fawkes, Ben Hornshaw and 2017 Knight of Illumination award-winner Ross Williams. The programming team worked with Spot Captain Chris Henry, Visual Engineer Luke Chantrell, intern Alexander Silvester and Lighting Team Manager Jennie Marenghi. The lighting experts also worked closely alongside Creative Directors Francisco Negrin for Opening and Simone Ferrari for Closing, and show Producer was Marco Balich of Balich Worldwide Shows, 

“A show design is only ever as good as the team that realises it, and we were fortunate to have the team we did, and the show was quite spectacular because of it.” concludes Durham. 

Fixtures were supplied by Italian rental company Agora, led by production electrician Nicola Manuel-Tallino. Stufish provided the show’s set design, while Clonwork created the projection content. Scott Willsallen designed the sound for both ceremonies. Photos courtesy of Balich Worldwide ShowsType your paragraph here