Winches on world tour with Fred again..

Visual artist Boris Acket created a breathtaking moving roof using 1,200 m² fabric and 84 custom EN-certified winches.

We are proud to announce that our custom-made EN17206-compliant winches were used throughout the most recent Fred again.. world tour USB002 by renowned Amsterdam artist Boris Acket.

The giant piece of semi-transparent fabric was guided up and down by the winches, while being shaped by several natural forces like air and heat. This made the installation move differently each time, ensuring that every concert provided an original visual experience for the crowd below the fabric.

All the people inside the venue were united under the same moving roof as the huge kinetic installation reached all the way from behind the stage to the back of the crowd.

Photo by @samneill.photo

The USB002 world tour was a brand-new concept, where Fred again.. announced 10 concerts in 10 cities over a period of 10 weeks. Each week, he released a new track for his USB album and performed it for the crowd that same night for the very first time.

See some of the highlights from the USB002 world tour in the video below:

Boris Acket about the project:

"More than in any previous iteration of our Einder series, this tour with Fred Again.. confronted us with the physical reality of the work. When fabric is set in motion through space - expanding to a surface of 1,200 square meters - it displaces approximately 8,400 cubic meters of air. That air is continuously caught, carried, and drawn by the fabric as it moves rhythmically up and down. Body temperature, ventilation systems, architecture, weather conditions and humidity all have influence on that rhythmical motion.

For this project, we collaborated with Wahlberg to develop a custom winch designed for these larger-than-life conditions.

A few statistics that I LOVE:
The winch itself weighs only 3.6 kg and is rated for a 2 kg load. Yet when pulling upward, it exerts a remarkable force of 11 kg. Across the entire grid, this allows nearly 1,000 kg of air to be lifted in just seven seconds over the full length of the cable."

Credits:

Artist: Fred again..
Creative direction, production: @boris.acket, www.borisacket.nl
Creative production: @luizaguidi
Creative coding, operating: @coreyschneider.art
Production assistant: @mooscrebolder
Additional creative coding: @timo_lejeune
Photographers: @samneill.photo & @theobatterham
Light operator: @roeland_schuijren