In 2017 the Dutch Festival Dekmantel, one of the most important electronic music festivals in the world, was hosted in Sao Paulo (Brazil). The Jockey Club of São Paulo attracted approximately 6,000 people, who could experience an event beyond music. The set design general idea was create a symbiosis between all stages and Jockey's original architecture, a project dated back to 1940s, made by the French architect Henri Sajous.

In order to create the entire atmosphere of the festival scenography, a team of architects was invited to the project: SuperLimão Studio, Atelier Marko Brajovic and Studio Guto Requena. The language and program of the stages followed the original event developed by the Dutchman Bob Roijen (Light & Stage Designer). The Brazilian lighting project is signed by Room 28 and executed by GTM.

The Main Stage took advantage of the atmosphere of the Jockey and São Paulo Skyline, with its many towers of lights scattered around the area. There were great names of the electronic music of the past and present. The setting is designed based on an atmosphere closer to the industrial ambiences of minimalist scenography of electronic music. Wooden panels painted with a handmade texture were displayed in 8 towers; in them, led panels with projections of Bob Roijen were played in synergy with each artist who performed. Among these panels, linear bands of lights were projected vertically, creating a mystical atmosphere about the artists and the stage. The coverage, with a great balance, followed the language of the coverage of the bleachers of the Jockey Club.

On the Goptun stage, there was the broadcast of the Boiler Room channel, which was intimate and immersive. The architects printed a more transparent language that valued the Tattersall of Jockey: light cannons installed under the floor of the feasible reflected in the existing cover. This stage received Djs and bands and the stage was thought in two levels.

As the name says, the Selectors stage talks about a sophisticated and unusual selection of DJs who performed there, in the style of a cozy and intimate ambience of a record store. It was located in an area surrounded by buildings and trees. Wood was the material chosen for contact with people and the climate of space. Three porticos were created to support the canopy formed by wooden beams, which go down behind the DJ, creating a backdrop in the same style. The effect was a vanishing point, as a result, all attention was turned into the artist who introduced himself.

Commissioned by: Dekmantel

Format: Event

Job description: stages design; main stage, selectors and goptun/boiler room.

Project team

Authors: Atelier Marko Brajovic + SuperLimão Studio + Studio Guto Requena

Creative Direction: Marko Brajovic

Project Direction: Bruno Bezerra

Assistant Architect: Fernanda Zanetti, Fernanda Matos, Gabriel Brugnara, Jovana Pectrovic

Construction and set-up: GTM