PyroMachina 2008.
Paweł Zyguła, an established Polish pyrotechnical designer, came up with an idea of a fireworks festival years ago, but the idea only took off when he met Sebastian Godula and Konrad Koper, two Krakow-based event organisers whose event-factory is [a specialised organiser of mass events and festival producer – link]. The Polish Visual Arts Associtation, now headed by Paweł Zyguła, has teamed up with event-factory to add a mysteriously named PyroMachina to the Krakow’s calendar of open-air events and festivals. The organisers leveraged a truly explosive programme and financial backing of the Town Hall to involve media patrons, sponsors and friends and got on to a highly successful start, both artistically and in terms of turn-out.
The two days of the festival’s first edition gathered approximately 80 thousand spectators putting PyroMachina in the same league as the two largest established mass events in Krakow: the New Year’s Party and the Midsummer Night Fest. The main feature of PyroMachina was the main competition including giant choreographic firework shows performed by teams from German, Portugal, Italy and the Czech Republic. The contest for the Gold PyroMachina Award gathered such icons of the world’s pyrotechnics, as Francesco Bauducco and Panzera SAS of Italy, Vitor Machado and Luso Pirotecnia Group from Portugal, Hans-Georg Kehse and Pyro-Art from Germany and Daniel Hradil and PyroMoravia from the Czech Republic. The Gala also featured firework performances by Adolf Weltschek, Jerzy Zoń and Jan Siuta.
The historic first Grand Prix was awarded to Pyro-Art of Berlin. The Portugese Luso Pirotecnia were the runners-up followed by Panzera SAS of Italy, who also won the crystal PyroMachina, the media award. Daylight fireworks, special effects and movie pyrotechnics had their special appearances too. Crowds and media flocked to stunt shows by Marek Sołek and his Stunt Team Poland. Marek Sołek presented two unique stunts: the Flying Man Show and the Burning Man Show. During the two days of the festival he broke two records of Poland and set an unofficial Guinness record. Marek Sołek made an unsecured free-fall jump from 41.5 m beating a previous national record of 32.5 m established in 1988. He also set an unofficial Guinness record and a record of Poland when he endured 3 minutes and 20 seconds in flames as a Burning Man.
PyroMachina 2008 had more than 100 various media accreditations. The event was covered by more than 200 reports in the printed press, on the radio and TV. The turnout exceeded 80 thousand spectators. The fireworks technology involved required more than 70 thousand meters of cable and more than 15 tons of explosives. Right from the start, PyroMachina has become one of the most important pyrotechnical events in Poland.
Winners of the 2008 PyroMachina International Pyrotechnic Arts Gala included:
- PYRO-ART GMBH, Germany. Winner of the Grand Prix of PyroMachina 2008 and The Golden PyroMachina 2008
- Luso Pirotecnia, Portugal. Winner of the 2nd Award and The Silver PyroMachina 2008
- Panzera S.A.S., Italy. Winner of the 3rd Award and the Bronze PyroMachina 2008
- PyroMorovia LTD., Czech Republic. Winner of the 4th Award.
- Panzera S.A.S., Italy. Winner of the Media Award and the Crystal PyroMachina 2008.
