Kinesys Moves it for Genesis

Photo: courtesy of Kinesys.

Stage Product Stories Published: 1 July 2007
Automation specialists Kinesys have supplied 7 custom designed G2 winches to the acclaimed Genesis world tour, which are being used to lift 7 lighting pods up and down 7 architectural “ribs”, positioned upstage framing the set.

Additionally, Kinesys are supplying 16 Liftket 250kg 30m/min chain hoists controlled by Elevation 1+ variable speed hoist controllers and being run on the same Kinesys Vector control system as the winches. These lift 8 cargo nets – embedded with over 500 egg strobes - which are stretched taught to fill the gaps between the ribs.

Kinesys was initially approached in January by Jeremy Lloyd, executive project designer for production designers Stufish (Mark Fisher) to provide automation for the tour. Working closely with lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe, the design team wanted an effect that would provide a real WOW factor at strategic moments of the set and conceived the lighting pod idea.

The G2 winch was commissioned by Kinesys and custom designed by the legendary Mike Barnett - as no suitable alternative was already available offering the right combination of speed, lifting capacity and compact dimensions ….. so Kinesys started from scratch.

The ribs vary in height from 20 – 27 metres and follow an asymmetric curve around the back of the 55 metre wide stage. The 7 Kinesys G2 winches can lift 800kg at up to 1 metre a second and are controlled by 11kW Velocity drives. They are being run at 800 mm per second for the show, and the first time the pods appear, gliding smoothly and elegantly up to the top of the ribs, the effect is met with massive roars from the crowd.

Photo: courtesy of Kinesys.

Each lighting pod is loaded with two 4.5Kw Big Lites, 4 Martin Atomic 3000 strobes and 12 individually circuited PAR cans. They are also wired for pyro, and one of the most spectacular moments of a show replete with visual surprises and delights is a brief pyro show during the closing bars of “Physical Touch” which ends the set.

To simplify the rigging and maximize get in times - which are tight due to the production’s sheer scale - each winch is fitted into a cart (designed and built by Hans Willems of Wicreations) along with 2 Liftket hoists for the adjacent cargo nets, and their associated Elevation 1+ controllers.

One of the tour’s three sets of ribs, structural steelwork and steel wire ropes is rigged at each gig by the A or B advance teams. On show day, the winch carts (part of the ‘universal’ rig being toured) are attached to the base steel, and then the steel wire ropes for the lighting pods and cargo nets are attached in turn.

All the Kinesys drives and distribution has been configured to fit into three rack cases making load ins and outs as quick and easy as possible and Kinesys’ "Array" range of power, data and emergency stop distribution units are also in the package.

Kinesys is supplying two automation crew to look after all aspects of the system on the road - Iain Macdonald and John Richardson.

Macdonald operates the show from a backstage centre position, and comments, “Vector is the perfect control system. It’s very reliable and easy to programme, and also to update each time we swap to one of the different steel systems”.

Andy Cave, Kinesys’ project manager for the show concludes “the Genesis tour is one of the biggest shows this year and we were delighted to be asked on board by the design team. Working with Mike Barnett on the G2 winch was a pleasure and I believe the design that resulted will prove to be very popular on future projects.”

Source:

Kinesys

 

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