MOTN Opening Ceremony

ShowTex galore during the opening ceremony of the Mother of the Nation festival at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). The impressive play honouring all mothers was decorated with flame-retardant ShowTex fabrics and curtain tracks from beginning to end.

ShowTex installed a patchwork of 42 flower petals in various sizes out of black Polystretch P8 CS Matt all around the proscenium. Having to serve as a projection surface, the black stretch fabric was covered with a layer of white StretchTulle, giving the petals the perfect textured base for the impressive lighting effects.

The show kicked off when a HiSpeed RollUp system made the down stage GobelinTulle (10 x 3 metres) disappear, revealing the rest of the impressive set design. The front gauze rolled up and down all through the show when needed for projection, creating an extra dimension on stage.

Two huge printed Spinnaker curtains were partly draped on the floor in front of the Cyclo 200 cyclorama as part of the scenery. The light and translucent curtains disappeared very elegantly when the two 9 m wide HiSpeed RollUp modules came into action, revealing the majestic waterfall on stage.

But it didn’t stop there… Behind the water, a black Molton of 10 by 6 metres attached to a Kabuki system suddenly dropped down, revealing yet another part of the layered set!

ShowTex hung black Molton masking drapes on single or double ShowTrack rail systems all around the stage. This way, the Molton panels could be moved around to divide the stage in different sections, hide changes in scenery or create passageways for bringing set elements on and off stage.

Head of Production for MOTN Jon Sinigaglia sums it all up perfectly: “Everything - from the initial specifications to the seemingly unending changes in specs and detail through to the final delivery on site - was carried out by your team in a permanently friendly and constructive manner. Your support of this project has been of particular note as we have stretched your systems, catalogue and technology to its very limits!”