Panasonic PT-RQ45 Projectors Power Lille Video Mapping Festival Opera House Installation

Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live event deployment at the 2026 Lille Video Mapping Festival, projecting onto the fa ade of the Op ra de Lille for the installation Le doute de l'air by Italian studio MammasONica. The festival, organized by association Rencontres Audiovisuelles, drew more than 200,000 visitors across two days and 11 sites along a two-kilometre route through the city.

The Op ra de Lille fa ade measures 30 metres high by 42 metres wide. The three PT-RQ45 units were installed in portrait orientation at a projection distance of 42 metres, creating a seamless 3840 2160 canvas across three blended images with a one-metre soft edge overlap.

Three years ago, we needed six 20,000-lumen projectors to cover a similar fa ade. Now, with three PT-RQ45 units delivering twice the brightness, we achieved the same scale with a much simpler setup, says Pascal Leroy, Video Technician. The design made it very easy to install the projectors in portrait orientation, even on a stacked container setup. It's pragmatic and result-oriented-exactly what you need in a live environment. When I first used the PT-RQ45, it felt immediately familiar. The interface is intuitive, like moving between different models of the same aircraft. The integrated 5-inch display also made a huge difference. In a festival environment, you don't always have access to external tools, so being able to check settings, test patterns, and content directly on the projector made setup faster and more efficient. This is simply the best colour rendition we have ever experienced. The combination of brightness, accuracy, and uniformity creates a visual result that stands out immediately.

Each projector operated from a standard 16A supply, reducing electrical infrastructure requirements. The PT-RQ45 features advanced cooling systems and coated circuit boards for outdoor operation, and a Multi-Laser Drive Engine designed to maintain image output in the event of a component issue.

The installation, Le doute de l'air, featured visuals by Luca Pulvirenti and an original score by The_diish. The piece ran as a five-minute looping sequence across the festival.

When the organizers of the festival told us we would be working with Panasonic, we knew we would have the necessary contrast and colour range to express our vision, says Luca Pulvirenti, Visual Artist, MammasONica. Coming on site for the tests prior to the show, the result was better than we hoped. Most of the time during the premiere, the creator adjusts the content on site to match the reality of the terrain - but not this time. With RQ45 the colour rendering is natural and accurate. There is always a concern with light pollution in an environment like this. But the brightness of the projectors made the surroundings disappear-the audience was completely immersed. The shift between the emotional states is at the core of our creation. Some parts are more dramatic and some are soft and natural. Shifting from a surreal to a realistic color tone, from vividness to lightness. We wanted it to be a gentle breath. And luckily the effect is there from this projector.

It is a surreal creation, an immaterial painting, says Pulvirenti. I wanted to represent a condition, a dream-like state rather than a fixed storyline, giving the audience the freedom to experience it in their own way. That vision relied heavily on the projector's ability to deliver precise, natural colour.

This entire Festival is such a sight to behold and we are immensely proud to see such an iconic building in Lille reimagined with Panasonic innovation and the great teams at Rencontres Audiovisuelles and MammasONica, says Florence Antony, Regional Marketing, Panasonic Visual System Solutions, France. The PT-RQ45 did more than deliver a projection - it enabled a dialogue between past and present, where historic architecture met contemporary digital expression.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/06/04/panasonic-pt-rq45-projectors-po...
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