Chartres en Lumières 2019

Modulo PI media servers Illuminate Chartres en Lumières

From April 27^th to October 12^th, 2019, the Chartres en Lumières festival (Chartres in lights) returns for its 15^th edition. With a route going through 24 illuminated sites all around the city, Chartres en Lumières is the biggest architectural heritage light enhancement operation in the world, powered by 24 Modulo Pi media servers.

Following the tremendous success of the first Light Celebration in 2003, the city perpetuated the event and created Chartres en Lumières, a free event with several illuminated sites from nightfall to 1 am every evening for 6 months.

Entirely produced by the city, the festival enhances Chartres city’s heritage with sound and light shows projected on iconic buildings such as the cathedral, the Fine Arts museum, the city’s theater, or the ancient bridges and old washing places along the Eure river.

For the 2019 edition, 24 sites are illuminated every evening with shows created by graphic studios who were awarded tenders.

Powering all these sites requires an important technical system with 29 x Christie projectors, 18 x Barco projectors, and 24 x Modulo Pi media servers: 23 x Modulo Player Ultra and 1 x Modulo Kinetic.

A dedicated team of 7 people is working full-time with complete autonomy on the festival production, managing the equipment and event, where more than 1 million lumens are deployed during 600 operating hours.

Fabien Lemoigne, Event Technical Manager of Chartres en Lumières, explains why the Modulo Pi systems were chosen: “All the equipment has to operate during 6 months with minimum maintenance, meaning it has to be extremely reliable at all times. That’s why we acquired Modulo Pi media servers. On top of that, I find Modulo Player interface very easy and fun to use.”

Dispatched on all the different sites, the 23 x Modulo Player Ultra play media in TGA or HAP and allow for easy mapping on buildings: “With Modulo Player Ultra, we can map on buildings in a very meticulous way, without needing extra equipment, and with a rendition of real quality at the end.”

To ease the management of each different systems spread out around the city, the Chartres en Lumières team also relies on the show control functionalities of Modulo Pi’s media servers : “All sites have been automated and automations on Modulo Player are a real joy to work with” adds Fabien Lemoigne.

Among the other iconic buildings of the city, the cathedral and its south doorway offer a brand-new show this year, produced and created by Spectaculaires Allumeurs d’Images. For this new light and sound show, 3 x Modulo Player Ultra are used, two of which with a 4K output.

The Modulo Kinetic system is powering an interactive installation designed by Pixel n’Pepper studio on the Chartres Galleries site, at the Chapelle Sainte Foy. Using a touch screen of 42 inches, visitors can choose 4 different themes in which they can select different animations to be applied on the surface of the Chapel. The visitors can also play with a 3D object such as a planet, a giant squid or a lion, move them in real time, or change their textures and colors, thanks to Adobe Substance materials.

Highlight of the festival, the Chartres Light celebration will take place on the 21st of September with new animations added to the regular light shows throughout the city.

“Light is a real vector of dynamism and communication for a city. Chartres is now very involved in this field as proven by the enhancement of its wonderful heritage, which now makes Chartres one of the most visited city in France” comments Laurent Lhuillery, member of the city council in charge of highlighting the city’s heritage. “Chartres en Lumières is now renowned beyond French borders. We strive to further extend its scope and influence every year.”