ProjectJam FactoryLocationLviv, UkraineInstallerSound HouseSubmitted ByRobe
The Jam Factory Art Center is a lively and invigorating new contemporary art centre and a collaborative community event space. The project started in 2015, with construction work commencing in 2019, and the Art Center was opened in late 2023 despite Ukraine being engaged in a full-scale war with its neighbour, Russia, which invaded in February 2022.
All technical elements – lighting, sound, video, trussing, cable infrastructure, automation and the control systems – for the main auditorium and performance area were supplied by Dnipro-based Sound House, one of Robe’s Ukrainian distributors, with Robe LEDWash 300s and ParFect 150s on the lighting rig.
For the main stage lighting installation, the LEDWash 300s and ParFect 150s were chosen based on Jam Factory’s multipurpose needs to be able to stage anything from a concert to a seminar, a choir or a rock show, a dance piece to a wide variety of different events and theatre productions, plus laboratories and experimental workshops for trialling new concepts.
Compact sizing of equipment was important, and quietness was also an issue especially for classical and jazz music and some of the physical theatre and performance concepts. Every piece of kit specified needed to be versatile, multipurpose and capable of being worked hard, plus easy to use, for scenarios where there may only be one technician to deal with all technical.
The main challenges for the installation were fulfilling the obligations you are bound by as a contractor in the unpredictability that comes with wartime, from delivery times through to the cost of logistics, and the skills shortages which are particularly acute in the technical production industry as so many have joined the armed forces and are defending the country.
Sound House’s Andrii Garkavy noted that technical challenges with any project right now are absolutely dwarfed by these wider and overarching ones.
This project should win because it is living proof of resilience and vibrance as much as the importance of art and expression anywhere, anytime, whatever the circumstances. It is actively hosting an array of exhibitions, theatrical performances, music events, educational initiatives, and community-oriented projects that are inspiring dialogue, interaction and entertainment.
