Maxin10sity Delivers World-First Volumetric Projection Experience At Schlosslichtspiele Karlsruhe

Budapest, Hungary – Maxin10sity wowed festivalgoers at Schlosslichtspiele Karlsruhe 2025, the 11th edition of the internationally renowned German light festival, with a never-before-seen volumetrically projected show that “drew” with light in air, enabling attendees to literally be immersed in the projected image, rather than simply being passive observers.

Commissioned especially for Schlosslichtspiele Karlsruhe, Stellar Sanctuary reimagined the language of projection by moving beyond surfaces into space itself.

One of the most popular attractions at this year’s festival, the ten-minute work used a pioneering volumetric projection technique to transform Karlsruhe’s Evangelische Stadtkirche (Evangelical City Church) into a unique, walk-in AV experience: Instead of mapping an architectural façade, Maxin10sity generated geometric light forms, rendered by just three Panasonic PT-RZ21K laser projectors, onto a carefully tuned haze field, choreographed to an original 7.2 surround score created by Maxin10sity and delivered via a d&b Soundscape immersive audio system.

After a decade of celebrated façade mappings at Karlsruhe Palace, Maxin10sity was asked by the festival to propose a new direction for 2025, including work away from the palace that could take in the wider city of Karlsruhe. The brief called for an evocative, audience-friendly evening experience inside the Stadtkirche, with minimal disruption to daytime church life and strict protection of the church’s heritage assets (including its antique Steinmeyer pipe organ). It had to be free to access, logistically simple to install and operate, and run nightly on an automated loop across the festival period (14th August–14th September).

By realizing volumetric projection with conventional projectors rather than lasers or moving-light arrays, Stellar Sanctuary – the first large-scale example of this kind of show – offered the flexibility of projection mapping but with the spatial presence typically associated with lasers, albeit without the expense or safety considerations of a typical laser deployment. “With Stellar Sanctuary we wanted audiences to stand inside the image and interact with it, not just stand in front of it,” explains Tamás Vaspöri, managing director of Maxin10sity. “The real elegance of the show is in its economy: just three projectors, a haze field and a compact surround sound system, which also means a fraction of the power, logistics and crewing requirements needed for an equivalent façade-scale projection-mapped experience.”

While it made its debut in a house of worship, Stellar Sanctuary and subsequent shows based on the same technological concept can be adapted to any venue and scale, continues Vaspöri. “Because we control the animation and score, we can tailor the piece to almost any venue – from churches to hangars, halls or dedicated events spaces – with minimal infrastructure,” he says. For a suitably transcendental atmosphere, the Karlsruhe iteration favored black-and-white minimalism, though both the video content and soundtrack can be adapted to any requirement.

Being the first major volumetrically projected event of its kind – along with its location in the historic Evangelische Stadtkirche – came with significant challenges, each of which was solved by the Maxin10sity team. These include determining the correct amount of haze to use (too little and the beams of light would collapse; too much and the image would bloom), tuning the 7.2 surround sound system to the acoustics of the church, and ensuring clear sightlines from all angles through proper projector placement (the front projector rig on a suspended truss and the remaining pair on two additional truss towers). Additionally, a modern, residue-free haze technology was selected following discussions with the church’s organist, who raised concerns over potential damage from oil-based residues.

Audiences responded enthusiastically to Stellar Sanctuary, which drew praise both for its simplicity and its novel use of AV technology to create an entirely new kind of immersive experience. Over the 30-day run, around 30,000 visitors experienced the piece (c.1,000 per day), with many returning to the church to explore different vantage points.

The show also demonstrated that audience-pleasing experiences are achievable without the heavy infrastructure typical of large immersive shows. A scalable, venue-agnostic installation, the concept behind Stellar Sanctuary paves the way for a new wave of projection-mapped immersive art a fraction of the usual cost and energy.

“When I first heard about the project, my thoughts were that it was a completely new and innovative idea. I Googled it and couldn't find anything similar. That's why I was immediately in favour of implementing it at our festival,” says Nina Wlodarczyk, curatorial project leader at Schlosslichtspiele Karlsruhe.

“The result exceeded all my expectations. When I first entered the church after it had been installed, I was simply overwhelmed. I was particularly impressed by the intensity and innovation of the show: the very special spatial sound experience combined with light and emotion.”

Guests were similarly awestruck by the 'sculpture-in-air’ effect produced by the volumetric projection, Wlodarczyk adds: “Just like me, the festivalgoers were completely overwhelmed. Many visitors were keen to see it again and again, bringing their friends along too.”

Full Stellar Sanctuary equipment list and credits:

• Projection: 3 × Panasonic PT-RZ21K laser projectors (1 × overhead + 2 × lateral)
• Volumetric media: Haze generated by a MDG ATMe haze machine, automated to start and stop at the beginning and end of each ten-minute show loop
• Audio: 7 × d&b Audiotechnik E6 loudspeakers with 2 × d&b D20 amplifiers (full-range channels) + 2 × d&b E15x subwoofers, 1 × Dante virtual soundcard, 1 × MacBook running QLab
• Show control: 1 × PC running Resolume
• Supplementary lighting: 24 × static LED sidelights mounted on 6 × truss towers behind 30m black Stage Molton textile with perforated pin-holes
• Content: Geometric animations and original score by Maxin10sity (concept and animation by András Sass, music and sound design by Flaviu Ciocan), pre-vis in Unreal Engine

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Photo Credit: Maxin10sity