FOREST STAGE

For the 2026 NorthSide Festival, Kollision collaborated with NorthSide’s Atmospheric team and lighting manufacturer Martin Professional to create Forest Stage - a luminous stage environment embedded within a forest clearing. Framed by the surrounding trees, the installation merged physical design and light into a powerful spatial experience. Throughout the festival day, the illuminated structure functioned as a landmark and gathering point within the forest clearing, balancing sculptural presence with subtle layers of light. As evening approached, colour and movement gradually intensified across the installation, revealing new dimensions of depth and atmosphere, transforming the stage into an increasingly vibrant environment for music, dancing and social exchange.

The installation was composed of 105 translucent inflatable volumes - dunnage bags, initially used in the shipping industry - arranged in 35 clusters of three within a custom-built plywood structure. Each volume was illuminated along its full depth by an integrated PixLine fixture, allowing light to occupy the body of the installation rather than merely its front. Together, the illuminated volumes created a soft and spatial field of light that evolved continuously throughout the day and into the night.
Atomic Dot WRM and Dot-HP fixtures were integrated throughout the structure, illuminating joints, cavities and custom-built hexagonal light elements. These layers of light revealed the geometry and depth of the installation and ensured a strong visual presence even in daylight.
As ambient light diminished, the inflated volumes gradually emerged as a large-scale, low-resolution media surface. Colours, gradients and animated compositions spread across the structure, transforming it from an architectural object into a dynamic stage environment woven into the surrounding forest.
The result was an installation that continuously shifted character — from a luminous landmark during daytime to an immersive nocturnal environment where light, music and construction merged into a single experience.

NorthSide was responsible for the physical design of the stage, led by Jon Krähling Engholt, which was developed in collaboration with the other parties. Kollision integrated the mapping and dynamic content system in their MAP player, and designed custom visual scenes and lighting designs, generative effects, and overlays tailored to the spatial structure. Additionally, Kollision implemented an interface allowing for external DMX control of the predefined light designs in multiple layers.
During the festival, lighting designer Victor Valeur Krag combined and executed the light compositions live in dialogue with the DJs, allowing the installation to move seamlessly between atmospheric ambient expressions and high-energy performance moments.

Movie by Allan Toft.