For the idealistic minds behind music festival producers, one question often gnaws like a spider on the brain: can a stage be more than just a platform?
For Heather Shaw, it's a resounding “yes.” Shaw is the designer of Coachella's new Quasar stage, which propelled electronic dance music as one of the iconic festival's biggest draws in a year packed with unforgettable rave moments.
As founder and CEO of Vita Motus Design Studio, Shaw has executed spooky sets for EDC, Electric Forest, and Lightning in a Bottle, among other major festivals. She also made history in 2022 as the first female lead production designer for the MTV Video Music Awards.
Vita Motus Design Studio
But he found himself in a pressure cooker ahead of Coachella, the country's quintessential music festival. In a dizzying three-month design sprint, Shaw manifested a universe in the festival's hallowed desert metropolis, where Quasar dissolved the boundaries between conceptual art and performative spectacle.
Reimagining the concert stage as a living, breathing organism, Quasar, Shaw tells us, was designed “to push the boundaries of what's possible at music festivals.” She paints a picture of a bastion of iconoclastic design that transcends the proscribed role of the typical festival setting as an inert backdrop.
Quasar fans willingly dove down the enthusiastic rabbit holes of three-hour DJ sets from RÜFÜS DU SOL and a cancer-free Michael Bibi, among other influential dance music artists. An undeniable highlight came on the Saturday of the festival's second weekend, when Eric Prydz and Anyma, two of the industry's most subversive visual showcase purveyors, performed together for the first time as the sun set.
We sat down with Shaw to talk about how his team created the Quasar stage, a technological marvel that propelled the Coachella experience into the future.
The way Anyma and Eric Prydz combined their images in @coachellaQuasar Stage 🤯🔥
through: @anyma_eva @ericprydz pic.twitter.com/XSiC4nmn50
-EDM.com (@TheEDMNetwork) April 23, 2024
EDM.com: Take us back to Quasar's original shot, when he first put ink to paper. Faced with such an important project, what ideas came to mind from an architectural point of view?
Heather Shaw: When I first conceptualized Quasar, my vision was to create a stage that not only served as a performance venue but also as an immersive piece of art. Architecturally, I was excited by the challenge of combining aesthetics with functionality, using geometric shapes and interactive elements that respond to music.
The biggest challenge was trying to find what style would fit at a festival like Coachella. Would it be a stage set, would it be another LED-powered performance space, or would it be architectural?
We are constantly designing and building media sculptures as sets, and this was the direction we took. Finding a narrative and an image that can be iconic for the future. The design began with the idea of monolithic LED walls that would not only serve as a backdrop but also seamlessly integrate with the performance, creating a fluid and dynamic visual experience.
EDM.com: What were some of the biggest logistical and technical obstacles you had to overcome to bring the Quasar stage to life?
Heather Shaw: Well, the schedule we had for Quasar was definitely one of the most intense aspects of the project. We only learned about the project at the end of January, which gave us only a few months to complete the concept. Normally a project of this scale would have a much longer runway, so it was a short sprint from day one.
Each element was a challenge because of that compressed schedule. We had to design, plan and execute simultaneously, which is as daunting as it sounds. This required an incredible amount of coordination between all team members, from the design team to engineers and ground staff. Everyone had to be perfectly synchronized and there was no room for delays.
Despite these challenges, we managed to achieve this and I am incredibly proud of what the entire team achieved. It was a testament to the dedication and creativity of our team and I believe it set a new standard for what is possible at music festivals.
EDM.com: Can you walk us through some of Quasar's more ambitious technical specifications? Did you incorporate any innovative technology to make it stand out from previous Coachella stages?
Heather Shaw: There were some ambitious steps we experimented with over the last two months of design and execution. One was engineering because we have overhangs on the walls to create sculpture. This engineering was a challenge, especially in this timeline.
Another ambitious technical specification is the integration of real-time content manipulation within Unreal Engine. Using the XLive tool from the Prismax team, the images respond dynamically to the music being played, creating a unique and immersive audiovisual experience that stands out from previous stages.
This integration means that the images can not only keep pace with live changes in the music, but can also be uniquely adapted to each performance. This capability allows for a much more personalized experience for both performers and audiences, as images are not only pre-programmed but are created and manipulated in real time based on the live environment.
This technology represents a major advancement in live event production, combining high-end gaming technology with concert footage to push the boundaries of what is possible at music festivals. This integration ensures that the Quasar stage offers an unparalleled sensory experience, setting a new standard for live music events at Coachella and beyond.
EDM.com: With 2024 marking the first release of Quasar, what does the future hold for us? Could it be expanded or improved?
Heather Shaw: As for the future of Quasar, while I don't know the specific plans the festival has, I'm already brainstorming ways to push the boundaries even further. We have established a foundation rich in potential, especially in terms of audience interaction and engagement.
I would love to explore even more elements that can interact with the audience directly, perhaps through interactive installations that respond to the movement and energy of the audience. The idea is that the audience not only sees the performance but is an integral part of it.
If Coachella brings me back, I'm excited to expand these interactive features, creating an even more dynamic and immersive experience that blurs the lines between performer and audience even more than we already have.
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