“Kranensee”: Performance with 40 Building Cranes

Aspern is a completely newly built district of Vienna. In 2014, the area was not only one of the largest construction sites in Europe, it also counts itself among the largest urban development projects in Europe. This resulted in the very rare situation that, during construction, more than 40 cranes stood side by side in a very confined space. An ideal opportunity for a performance under the illustrious name "Kranensee".

For this, the Neongolden agency developed a 17-minute audio-visual performance and staging of the 40 cranes. "The majority of the cranes are in motion and/or have lights on them. Those cranes that stand further away form an impressive background as extras with their position lights," explained artistic director Stefan Kainbacher. Fifteen cranes were equipped with a total of 120 LED strips. Fifteen other cranes were moved by crane operators and implemented a common choreography. The music for the performance was specially composed by Florian C. Reithner and the Viking School of Metal.

According to Stefan Kainbacher, the special challenges of the project were the dimensions of the area, the number of LEDs and the distance between the cranes and the viewers. On 15 February 2014, around 14,000 people watched the spectacle live.

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