When a unique tourist attraction in Denmark needed to transport its visitors back 10 million years, to the primeval ocean floor before what is now the Danish landmass even existed, creating a convincing impression of that environment was always going to be a tough task. But this is exactly the kind of challenge which Rosco invented its X-Effects fixture for – and it’s that product which has provided the solution.Located on the island of Møn, around two hours from Copenhagen, the GeoCenter Moens Klint tells the story of one of Europe’s most fascinating geological features. Møn is a chalk landmass, created by the laying down of the shells of millions of tiny sea creatures over millions of years. In subsequent aeons the chalk was forced up to create the Cliffs of Møn, which stand over 100 metres high on the island’s east coast.

Because it’s a sedimentary rock, its layers – and others within it, such as flint – have been a source of fascination for both geologists and everyday people alike, so the GeoCenter Moens Klint allows people to explore the many geological ages of the area – and explaining the formation of Denmark itself - in a much shorter time than several million years!

Lighting designer for the project was Jørgen Kjer of the Lyngby-based consultancy Cowi A/S. “I have worked on many exhibitions and museums where moving effects such as fire and water have been required,” he says. “But, in the past, unless you had a huge budget these have only been achievable by the use of rotating gobos. The main problem was that, even with dual gobo rotators, the fact that they use metal gobos means that you lose so much of the light from the fixture, typically 80-90%.”

He continues: “I saw X-Effects around two years ago at a trade exhibition and I knew straight away that this was the machine I’d been waiting for. I thought ‘Wow, it uses glass gobos and it’s so bright!’ The loss of light was negligible.”

Jørgen’s brief at GeoCenter Moens Klint was to make visitors walking through a 10m x 30m room feel like they were under the sea. At the same time, he was asked to create a moving planet Earth effect, which was to tie in with a video presentation.

Supplied by Valby-based Scenetek A/S, through Danish Rosco dealer Gobo Lighting, he used a total of seven X-Effects units, five for the water effect and another pair for the earth. Controlled via DMX from an EQ lighting console, the fixtures are hung from the ceiling and have a punishing life, being used for 10 hours every day. But this demonstrates another advantage of X-Effects.

“The units are very reliable and have a long lamp life, which is extremely important,” continues Jørgen. “When using theatre fixtures for exhibitions, an inherent problem is that they might only have 500-600 hour lamp life. So with the museum open for 10 hrs a day, you would have to keep changing bulbs.”

Being a two hour drive from Copenhagen, the equipment used at GeoCenter had to be very reliable, have a much longer lamp life and also be easy for staff at the museum to maintain. X-Effects ‘ticked the boxes’ to all these requirements. And, critically, the effects are amazing.

“The GeoCenter is really happy with the effects,” says Jørgen. “I have had a lot of people – both those in lighting and people who know nothing technical about it – say to me that they think it’s an amazing effect. It is much more efficient and realistic than using metal gobos.

“I was recently doing tests with another X-Effects for a museum in Copenhagen where moving cloud effects are required, which went very well. There is also a new sailing ships exhibition north of Jutland where I hope to use X-Effects.

“For me, it will always be the answer to this sort of project.”