Electro Magnetic

Once a year, the world heritage site Volklinger Hütte morphs into a party location. 4 plus 1 Konzerte GmbH put on the seventh edition of the Electro Magnetic Festival at the Saarland industrial monument on 14 July. As in past years, the event was sold out, with 10,000 visitors celebrating between blast furnaces, the ore shed and the coal track. Stageco Deutschland was on site. The industrial monument Völklinger Hütte, a former ironworks, was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994 and, thanks to the ‘steel’ testimonies to its past industrial use, provides an impressive setting for all kinds of events. The location has hosted the Electro Magnetic electro festival since 2012. The artists at this year’s festival – including Adam Beyer, Felix Kröcher, Gheist, Moonbootica and Paul van Dyk – performed on five floors. Stageco Deutschland provided the substructure for the set, consisting of 16 black steel towers and a DJ stage with a transparent roof. The 16 towers, differing in height, were erected rather like totem poles. The first row was assembled on a former track bed and several metres higher up, and the second row along the axis of the DJ stage. Working hand in hand with the lighting and set crews, the Stageco team equipped the towers and erected them one after the other. This way, assembly was completed within a very short space of time. pics © Christian Walter