Digital Projection, a specialist in laser projectors, has supplied 29 projectors for the Eternal Mucha exhibition by Grand Palais Immersif, Paris. The exhibition celebrates the work of Art Nouveau designer Alphonse Mucha and uses cutting-edge technology to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience.
Visitors can enjoy impressive large-scale projection mapping over the 441-square-meter exhibition. A projection area of 103,000 pixels is combined with a soundscape using spatial sound mixing, and scent technologies.
Eternal Mucha is the fourth exhibition by Grand Palais Immersif and was developed with the Mucha Foundation. Grand Palais Immersif is renowned for its production, operation and distribution of AV focussed, immersive digital experiences. It is a subsidiary of the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais (Rmn-GP, a state-owned body which manages the Grand Palais in Paris).
The firm’s first immersive, projection-mapped exhibition was Pompeii in 2020.
Roei Amit, director of Grand Palais Immersif, explains: “We’ve been testing this format for a while [since Pompeii]. This was followed by La Joconde Immersive [Mona Lisa] in Marseille, then Venice Revealed and now Eternal Mucha here in Paris.
“This type of project is a huge collaborative work between technical staff and creatives, so as well as teaming up with the Mucha Foundation we worked with various partners and providers, including Artisans d’Idées, Lundi8 and Mardi8, who did formidable work on the visual storytelling, and our technical partner, ETC Onlyview, for the [AV] installation.
“This exhibition is very sensory based, with beautiful images and sound, but there’s also a very profound narrative approach.”
Multi-sensory experience
ETC Onlyview is the technical service provider for the exhibition. The firm was responsible for sourcing the projectors and it selected Digital Projection’s E-Vision Laser 11000 4K-UHD projectors. This model offers affordable, market-leading solid-state illumination using one DLP chip. It offers 10,500 lumens at either 4K-UHD (3840 2160) or WQXGA+ (2716 1528) resolution, providing installers and end users with quality and versatility.
The immersive nature of the exhibition is enhanced by music and sound design created by Studio Radio France and Rmn-GP, and scent elements by Technicoflor.
The centrepiece of Eternal Mucha is a three-part projection narrating the artist’s life and work. In Act One, the audience learns about his invention of Art Nouveau. Acts Two and Three explore his work on the Bosnia–Herzegovina pavilion at the 1900 International Exhibition, and his masterpiece The Slav Epic.
The film is projected as a triptych with a 8,000px x 4,000px central screen, accompanied by a 13,000px x 3,000px surface and a 8,000px x 4,000px floor space. The film is accompanied by high-resolution images of Mucha’s work. The quantity of data required is huge – with 30 minutes of ultra-high-resolution video at 50fps.
The AV content took producers Mardi8 four months to complete. Nicolas Lim, Mardi8, says: “This required a lot of background work in terms of design, integration and synchronisation.”
29 projectors were used over three spaces, and calibrated using ETC’s Onlyview software. ETC also provided screens, automation, and audio technology for the exhibition.
Ongoing partnership
ETC is working with Grand Palais Immersif for four exhibitions and will provide a full installation service plus on-site support for each project.
Laurent Segelle, fixed installations lead for ETC Onlyview, comments: “Typically during the exhibition, we come over one day per month to do some preventive and corrective servicing. We also provide GPI with a remote maintenance service if need be.”
“We originally specified the Digital Projection projectors as they had enough power for a maximum number of exhibitions, with minimum maintenance. We wanted equipment capable of creating large-format images with great resolution and, of course, within the allocated budget. The fact that the projectors have a five-year original warranty was also very reassuring and helped with the choice.”
Amit adds: “Digital technology enables us to present [Mucha’s] works in a different way: We can dive into large-scale reproductions and see details that we would otherwise have missed. Thanks also to the animation of these paintings, you can see, in a very detailed and inspiring manner, the way in which the movement in these drawings was achieved. And this is a real advantage of digital technology.”
Digital Projection announced the launch of two new innovative new laser projectors earlier this year. The new TITAN 41000 4K UHD and M-Vision 27000 WUXGA projectors feature unparalleled brightness, vivid colour rendering, a smaller footprint, and improved, market-leading efficiency. The projectors provide exceptionally bright, precise, realistic images in a variety of commercial locations.
Images courtesy of Maxime Chermat
