A diverse array of presentations, discussions, lectures and perspectives set the tone and energy of the event, complete with a buzzing after-party on the first night which created a great networking experience and a real-time interactive forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas in a vibrant space connecting all aspects of technology and art.

Robe once again supported its Polish distributor Prolight which was an integral part of the symposium, taking the opportunity to showcase its latest products and innovations in the exhibition area – alongside its other premium group brands, Avolites and LSC Control Systems.

For the first time at a Scena Jutra event, Robe parked up its famous show truck outside the Palace of Culture & Science, providing a full product demo area plus a bar for invited guests who could enjoy coffee and refreshments on the top deck, taking advantage of the glorious spring sunshine and soaring temperatures as they got social.

Robe sent a strong management team headed by CEO Josef Valchar, including international sales director Michel Arntz, international business development manager Bram de Clerk and key account manager (Europe) Jeroen van Aalst.

Josef commented that he thought the event was “a fantastic opportunity that has really become a major talking point, and proved an invaluable industry platform for generating discussions, ideas, collaborations and business as well as learning and gathering information.”

He also noted the many international speakers who were brought together alongside numerous Polish performance industry and technical practitioners and professionals.

Together, they presented a diversity of separate, but interrelated topics designed to open minds and conversations across three different speaker ‘stage’ spaces – Inspiration (Scena Inspiracje), Discussion (Scena Dyskusje) and Academy (Scena Akademia).

Internationals included Finnish lighting, set and visuals designer Mikki Kunttu, who presented his keynote “From Cirque du Soleil to Opera Wrocławska”, discussing the challenges of visual design, the impact of technology on stage art, and behind-the-scenes at some of the most breathtaking performances.

Kristof Nagy, account director of Hungary-based Visual Europe Group (VEG), which has recently opened a Polish office, engaged the audience with his presentation about producing “Western Shows in Eastern Europe” which included a deep dive into the logistics and trials of preparing massive mixed-media shows for the annual Hungarian National Day celebrations.

“Dawid Podsiadło 360 Tour – from behind the scenes” proved one of the most popular discussions of the whole event with people even gathering along the corridor outside to get a glimpse of the action!

Presented on the Stage of Inspirations – this was an exclusive session revealing BTS insights from the artist’s phenomenal 2024 “360” Stadium Tour – a groundbreaking feat that has redefined the Polish music and production scene. The discussion gave a unique opportunity to hear from the key creators including lighting designer Jacek Chojczak – who also utilised many Robe moving lights on this show – together with others including production designer Giorgos Stylianou-Matsis. They revealed elements of the cutting-edge technologies and stage solutions used, together with the incredible teamwork that brought this ambitious spectacular to life.

Each stage featured its own production – lighting, video and audio – systems. A serious amount of kit was installed in each one that was carefully thought out, beautifully designed and logistically planned to transform each room and produce visually stimulating and atmospheric environments. This detail was a functional application of the technology and tools that our industry uses so well.

The intersections of the corridors connecting each part of the exhibition area – the physical nucleus of the event – each featured a different piece of light art, showing how more abstract and imaginative ideas can amuse, entertain and stimulate the brain.

Robe’s own product development specialist Dave Whitehouse gave two interesting lectures on the Academy Stage.

The first, “The Dilemma of Developers”, addressed the challenges, goals and often complicated trade-offs of product development, while the other, on day two, looked at “The Future of Colour Referencing” in the enigmatic context of how a new generation of lighting professionals are using a framework designed around traditional light sources that will soon cease to exist!

Robe’s newest LED lighting products displayed in the expo area included the incredible WTF! (Wash Twist Flash) multi-level strobe / flood fixture and the new LedPOINTE, both of which attracted a lot of attention, as did the iFORTE LTX and several T- Series luminaires including T11, T15, T0.5, T32 Cyc and the inventive Footsie LED footlight system.

New and cool tech from Avolites was highlighted with D9-215, T3 with Wing and the new highly portable D7-215 consoles demonstrated by Rogier Trok in Avo’s own display section, complete with Rogier’s personal well-flown Pele Air case in which he flies a demo D7-215 around the globe.

A number of LSC products were shown including one of their Unitour power distro racks. LSC is also distributed by Prolight in Poland.

Rogier also gave a presentation on the Academy Stage, in which he compared the different Avolites interfaces for delivering powerful and straightforward lighting and media control, and how Avo’s Synergy protocol unites and combines these two worlds into a single visual environment for more integrated seamless programming and playback.

The rooms were alive with the buzz and energy of those keen to discover and explore broader contexts and happy to think outside more traditional informational bubbles as people fully optimised these resources and opportunities presented by Scena Jutra.

Robe’s Michel Arntz, attending his third Scena Jutra, was suitably impressed with it being “the busiest to date and an animated and lively place to meet and have meaningful discussions with a mixed range of professionals from multiple disciplines – theatre, television, live performance, art and commercial / industrial – all at different stages in their careers”.

Prolight’s Rafal Rzeczkowski – also president of the Scena Jutra Foundation – was delighted with the overall results.

He also appreciated Robe actively investing in the event and again stepping up as a major sponsor. “Robe has always been very enthusiastic about Scena Jutra, and it is great that manufacturers of this calibre can appreciate the event’s value,” stated Rafal.

Michel added that it was important for Robe to have a strong presence and to support Rafal’s own “proactivity, foresight and very hard work in elevating and continuing to grow Scena Jutra as an industry think-tank.”

Photo Credit: Louise Stickland