Lighting Design for Art on Ice 2026

Art on Ice celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2026. James Bay and Jess Glynne shared the stage with Noah Veraguth, Stress and Stefanie Heinzmann. On the ice, world champions from three disciplines appeared alongside leading Swiss skaters including Lukas Britschgi and Kimmy Repond.

I have been part of the Art on Ice creative team since 1999. For the 2026 edition, I was responsible for the Lighting Design, DoP work for the television recordings, as well as Renderings and Animations during preproduction. Together with my team, I managed the entire implementation process. This included Preprogramming, Lighting Programming and Lighting Operating, as well as integrating the movements of several winches.

One of the central challenges was the exceptionally tall stage design dominated by video surfaces. It extended across several levels and included a pool filled with water. At the same time, the music consisted predominantly of live duets rehearsed specifically for Art on Ice by the guest artists. For me, the task was to connect these spatial and musical layers while giving the light its own presence alongside the large video surfaces. I also wanted to continue developing the ice-lighting system created in 2025.

For the stage design, I used JDC-1 and Roxx Neo FX fixtures in single-pixel mode. Individual control through a MadMapper system allowed the light to be precisely aligned with the music. A matrix of JDC-1 fixtures behind the transparent LED walls and lines of LED beam lights along the vertical LED edges gave the tall stage architecture additional depth.

The followspots for singers and solo performers were controlled through a Follow-Me system using two targets. It could flexibly access all spotlights on the main stage and B-stage, allowing the appropriate fixture to be selected according to each performer’s position. For the stage dancers, I added side-hung lighting positions to the design.

I also continued developing the ice lighting. Our custom-built pixel-mapping software was extended with an automatic zoom function that controlled the zoom setting of the ACME Tornados according to their position on the ice. For the colour control, we programmed custom shaders that were played out through a second MadMapper system.

Nine sold-out shows in Zurich, Fribourg and Davos made the anniversary edition a special part of this long-standing collaboration.