In the Shawn Levy Night at the Museum films, Ben Stiller's night guard character is exposed to an altogether different side of the museum after closing time when, to his surprise, the exhibits miraculously come to life. While this Hollywood fantasy may be a little too far-fetched for reality, a growing number of museums including the MoMA in New York and the Natural History Museum in London are taking on a new life after hours when they play host to corporate events and private parties.

At Brussels’ prestigious Musée Art & Histoire, which sports one of Europe's largest ensembles of Roman and Egyptian-era historical artifacts, one such late-night gala was enlivened by an immersive lighting design by Auvicom that featured an extensive collection Chauvet DJ fixtures.

Drawing on the colour-rendering power of 120 wireless Chauvet DJ Freedom Par Quad-4 IP units for uplighting and four EVE E-100Z spots, which were used to highlight the room’s architectural features, Auvicom was able to create a festive event environment, while still honouring the museum’s compelling aesthetics.

Adhering to the client's brief stressing the importance of creating an inviting ambiance, the team at Auvicom went about designing a vivid visual concept that subtly blended into the museum's surroundings. Thanks to the combination of saturated colours, small footprint and wireless DMX control capabilities, the selection of Freedom Par and EVE fixtures allowed the Auvicom team to create a number of unobtrusive, yet highly effective, lighting effects in key networking locations within the museum.

Crucially, the wireless DMX and power capabilities of the Freedom Par gave the team at Auvicom the advantage of flexibility. In addition to being free to position the fixtures throughout the museum, the wireless aspect of the fixtures ensured that the museum floor remained free from unsightly cables.

The team at Auvicom also had to factor in a number of logistical requirements for the venue itself, such as the limited power supply and limitations on overall power consumption. Thanks to their rechargeable power source providing hours of reliable illumination, the Freedom Par fixtures were able to provide a practical solution to the venue’s restrictions.

A further logistical hurdle was the museum's rather stringent set-up times, which forced the team to load, position, focus and calibrate all fixtures in a two-hour window between the facility’s closing at 4pm and the beginning of the event at 6pm.

The 15 lighting technicians working on the project met this challenge with flying colours, creating an engaging atmosphere that transformed the museum with a magical touch that even the most accomplished Hollywood director would have admired.