Ice skating in the open air – thanks to the Wiener Eistraum, this has been an annual highlight for the Viennese since 1996. Every year, a mobile ice rink with a surface area of 700m2 has been attracting visitors to the Rathausplatz in the Austrian capital. Three refrigeration units feed a network of 400,000 pipes beneath the rink to ensure a top-quality surface. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the ‘Vienna Ice Dream’, and the celebratory mood was set with a gala opening on the 23rd of January. And this time, they made it so colourful, they made rainbows jealous.
Lighting Design between Rathaus and Burgtheater
Show designer Christian Weisskircher and lighting programmer Jürgen Erntl decided to go for one grandMA2 light, three MA 4Port Nodes, and 40 moving lights along with ten Clay Paky B-EYE K20s. “For the opening, we needed powerful spots which were capable of producing strong effects without hazing or fogging, even against backlighting, and Clay Paky B-EYEs were one of the perfect solutions for this.” Of paramount importance for the team was fully illuminating the ice rink and creating memorable effects for the visitors. The 45 days of ice rink season are being lit up by more than 300 outdoor LED PAR spotlights, 20 LED floods, and 40 LED zoom moving lights.
Wiener Eistraum is open until the 8th of March. Since 2005, visitors have not only been able to skate – and curl – on the continually expanded ice rink, they can also explore the Traumpfad (‘Dreamway’) which winds for 750 icy metres through the park. You can take a look yourself from the webcam feeds from the Wiener Rathausplatz and the Burgtheater.
More Impressions:
Picture sources: stadt wien marketing / Jobst, Bryn Roberts
