Comics Station Antwerp

A Unique Theme Park with Unique Lighting! The new 6000 square metre Comics Station Antwerp indoor theme park, located in the city’s famous central station complex, was in need of lighting and video design & installation. At the heart of the attraction are Belgium’s best loved comic heroes – characters like Suske en Wiske (Spike and Suzy), Jommeke, The Kiekeboes, the globally acclaimed multi-character Smurfs, bandit-chasing Lucky Luke and a celebrity flourish with Urbanus, each with its own style and colours, requiring a different design approach.

Result

The Painting with Light team collaborated closely with Panasonic Belgium and AED on the AV elements and fully specified the lighting elements of the project, which involved nearly 1300 fixtures being used to illuminate over 60 attractions. These are spread across four stories and six zoned entertainment areas.

Painting with Light also took on the role of projection consultants, following Panasonic’s initial study of the building and specification of the hardware, which included 22 projectors and 86 LCD screens. This entailed fine-tuning the final positions, choosing the lenses and calculating alignment, beam angles, focuses, throw distances, etc.

Another challenge was the rigging positions for lighting and projectors, which had to be chemically fixed into the walls and ceiling areas.

Being a busy international railway station, the rules and regulations, health and safety requirements, etc. were super-tight, and the entire design process was meticulously planned, prepared and revised over two years.

Then, once green-lighted … everything had to be delivered, installed, programmed and ready for opening in a timeframe of around 3 months!

When it came to choosing hardware, as well as energy-consciousness, long term maintenance and reliability being high on the requirement list, so were compact dimensions and the need for lights to be unobtrusive.

Around 10 different types of Gantoms are rigged throughout Comics Station, including floods, spots, pin-spots, gobo-projectors and ellipsoidals.

For the atrium space and some of the larger areas, bigger and more powerful fixtures were needed, so different Chauvet LED PARs were selected together with their Rogue R1 Spot and Wash LED moving heads plus Chauvet’s Maverick spot and wash moving lights.

All the lighting is run via seven networked Pharos LPC1 controllers, which are linked to a wider building / attractions control system.

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Destinations

Shows

Dark rides & attractions

Services

Team

Luc Peumans As a child, Luc was already fascinated by light and technology, which inspired him to study engineering alongside his musical hobbies. His passion for light took off when he became a member of the Symbolica dance theatre. During his studies, he gained his first work experience as a light technician, designer and operator for national and international concerts and shows. This was the seed for the establishment of Painting with Light in 1999. Luc is a creative perfectionist who will never shy away from a challenge. He cherishes time with his two children Sam and Bo, and he also likes being on a golf course. He cites the “Clouseau in het Lang” concert from 2005 and the 2018 musical project ‘40-‘45 as memorable challenges, that succeeded thanks to groundbreaking and enthusiastic teamwork. Should we even mention that he is proud as punch of his team?
Jeroen Opsteyn Jeroen is a busy man, who has been giving his all as a light programmer and designer at Painting with Light for the last 6 years. Every day, he tries to come up with a new show in a creative way. He really is an ambiance creator who is quick and adept at programming shows. He enjoys the satisfaction of seeing everything come together during the first show after an intense start-up, and the positive reactions from the audience. As a loyal team player, giving away house secrets is not his thing: after all, what happens on tour ... He has particularly find memories of The Bodyguard, his first ‘big’ musical project at Painting with Light. It cost him six weeks of blood, sweat, and tears, but the result was a definite hit.
Katleen Selleslagh Katleen has been a video programmer and operator at Painting with Light for more than 10 years. According to colleagues, she is blessed with an extraordinarily sharp eye, and she is precise, solution-oriented, and persistent. She loves the challenge of new projects, and the energy from the audience during live shows. Among the many interesting projects, Throwback stands out in particular. Long days, it’s true, but the atmosphere at shows is amazing. The ‘old’ K3 farewell tour is still fresh in her memory. Katleen at the top!
Werner Dries Light has almost no secrets left for Werner - he has been an operating designer for 30 years. Or should it be designing operator? Whatever is on his schedule, he reckons every working day looks good. Even more so if television work is involved, as that is where he excels, according to his colleagues. Is there a show horse hiding inside him perhaps? He cites creativity and diversity as the nicest aspects of his work. He would describe himself as experienced (that’s lucky, so would we), cheerful, and professional. He loves all kinds of projects, because in his own words: “I love my job”.

Year 2017

Destinations

Shows

Dark rides & attractions

Services

Team

Luc Peumans As a child, Luc was already fascinated by light and technology, which inspired him to study engineering alongside his musical hobbies. His passion for light took off when he became a member of the Symbolica dance theatre. During his studies, he gained his first work experience as a light technician, designer and operator for national and international concerts and shows. This was the seed for the establishment of Painting with Light in 1999. Luc is a creative perfectionist who will never shy away from a challenge. He cherishes time with his two children Sam and Bo, and he also likes being on a golf course. He cites the “Clouseau in het Lang” concert from 2005 and the 2018 musical project ‘40-‘45 as memorable challenges, that succeeded thanks to groundbreaking and enthusiastic teamwork. Should we even mention that he is proud as punch of his team?
Jeroen Opsteyn Jeroen is a busy man, who has been giving his all as a light programmer and designer at Painting with Light for the last 6 years. Every day, he tries to come up with a new show in a creative way. He really is an ambiance creator who is quick and adept at programming shows. He enjoys the satisfaction of seeing everything come together during the first show after an intense start-up, and the positive reactions from the audience. As a loyal team player, giving away house secrets is not his thing: after all, what happens on tour ... He has particularly find memories of The Bodyguard, his first ‘big’ musical project at Painting with Light. It cost him six weeks of blood, sweat, and tears, but the result was a definite hit.
Katleen Selleslagh Katleen has been a video programmer and operator at Painting with Light for more than 10 years. According to colleagues, she is blessed with an extraordinarily sharp eye, and she is precise, solution-oriented, and persistent. She loves the challenge of new projects, and the energy from the audience during live shows. Among the many interesting projects, Throwback stands out in particular. Long days, it’s true, but the atmosphere at shows is amazing. The ‘old’ K3 farewell tour is still fresh in her memory. Katleen at the top!
Werner Dries Light has almost no secrets left for Werner - he has been an operating designer for 30 years. Or should it be designing operator? Whatever is on his schedule, he reckons every working day looks good. Even more so if television work is involved, as that is where he excels, according to his colleagues. Is there a show horse hiding inside him perhaps? He cites creativity and diversity as the nicest aspects of his work. He would describe himself as experienced (that’s lucky, so would we), cheerful, and professional. He loves all kinds of projects, because in his own words: “I love my job”.

Year 2017

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