Somehow, the word "chaos" inevitably comes up whenever critics write about the Distortion Festival, a freewheeling celebration that blends techno, house, trance, hip-hop and other genres into an experience that is as dizzying as it is fascinating.
This "chaos" spreads quickly: it begins as a street party in the trendy Nørrebro neighbourhood and then makes its way through different parts of the city over the next five days.
However, "chaos" does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. The more than 100,000 people who have attended the Distortion Festival every year since it began in 1998 as an "experimental mobile festival" are proof of that. Roaming the city while enjoying the music, the people and an unpredictable—but captivating—atmosphere, festivalgoers savour every minute of the event.
In recent years, Fiction Factory's stage and lighting designs have helped create this atmosphere. Like the festival itself, its designs are intense, edgy, highly original and incredibly immersive.
The Fiction Factory team, led by project manager and stage designer Timo Scholz, together with lighting designer and operator Fabian Arat, relied on an impressive selection of CHAUVET Professional fixtures, including the Maverick Storm 2 BeamWash and Maverick Storm 1 Flex.
Running their powerful rig on a ChamSys MQ500M console and a Stadium Wing, the team created a flowing sequence of looks that transformed the festival's stages, altering their apparent shapes and sizes, as well as the angles of the light. In fact, backlighting was one of the design's key creative elements. Fixtures positioned on the dance floor were used as backlight sources to create visual depth and temporarily obscure the space behind the audience.
Speaking about the Maverick Storm 2 BeamWash, Scholz and Arat agreed:
This fixture stood out for its IP65 rating, high output in a compact form factor, and highly precise and versatile colour mixing, in both saturated and pastel tones. Within the rig, the fixture clearly distinguished itself. The units were positioned at a low height on the outer gate structures of the dance floor. This placement enabled precise beam effects just above the audience, while also allowing the fixtures to be used as blinders, with an open zoom directed backwards. Combined with haze, this created a clear spatial separation and a strongly defined sense of depth.
For its part, the Maverick Storm 1 Flex was flown at height, in the positions used for profile lighting on the gate structure. "Even in more complex looks combining gobos, colour and prism effects, the fixture maintained excellent punch and visibility", explained Arat. "In addition, the Storm Flex was used to project onto the circular scenic elements. Its gobo selection made it possible to create a wide variety of textures. Its low weight was also an advantage. The Storm Flex fixtures also demonstrated a strong presence across the indigo and blue spectrum".
Because the sun sets late in Copenhagen, the character of the festival's lighting evolved throughout each day. "The musical opening was designed to convey a calmer, brighter feeling", noted Scholz. "As darkness increased, the show became much more energetic. This progression was reflected in the lighting design: warm colour temperatures, slow movements and smooth transitions predominated at first, while later sections increasingly incorporated strobe effects, fast sequences and strong accents".
As might be expected at an event of this scale and scope, the production of the Distortion Festival was not without its challenges. One of the main challenges was integrating and wiring around 400 E27 light sources, distributed across approximately 50 dimmer channels, which had to be tested and addressed individually.
The KNV lines were spread across a very large area, while the available infrastructure for cable routing and power supplies was limited. In addition, covering the semicircular truss gates with custom-made covers required a strictly sequenced installation process, as they could only be fitted once the technical setup had been completed. The reliability and ease of use of the Chauvet fixtures are worth highlighting, as they allowed them to be integrated efficiently under these conditions, explained Scholz.
Although the production process presented a number of challenges, it is unlikely that many of the attendees who filled Copenhagen during the event gave them much thought. They were too busy immersing themselves in the experience that makes the Distortion Festival one of the most unique events in the world.
