OSAKA, Japan – Cofrex worked with GSM Project to provide visitors to the France Pavilion at World Expo Osaka, 2025 with a multi-sensory experience. Sonic content developed by IRCAM is heard via a sound system comprised of more than 250 individual Nexo loudspeakers.
More details from Nexo (www.nexo-sa.com):
With the ambition to design a future society for our lives, World Expo 2025 opened in Osaka on April 13th, returning to the Japanese city that hosted its first World Expo some 55 years ago.
Covering a 960-acre site on the Yumeshima (Dream Island), more than 160 countries are showcasing their cultures, crafts, technologies and visions of the future in a series of exhibits that includes the extraordinary France Pavilion, designed and operated by official French exhibition organizers Cofrex. Ideally located at the entrance to the Expo, the visually striking venue is expected to welcome more than 20,000 visitors each day over the coming 6 months.
“If there were just one feeling associated with the French mindset, it would be love” believes French President Emmanuel Macron and it is a French vision of the world, a paean to love, boldness and dialogue, that he expects visitors to the France Pavilion will discover.
“The way we chose to embody the theme of love is through Pulsations, guided by music and a steady heartbeat in a journey through eight different art installations” reports visual artist and Artistic Director for the project Justine Emard who worked with international experience designers GSM Project to create a multi-sensory experience showcasing French creativity and excellence exemplified by sponsors including LVMH, AXA, LES VINS D’ALSACE and NINAPHARM, and the profound connection between France and Japan.
With music and sound central to an immersive visitor experience, specially composed music and sonic content developed by IRCAM, the French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, is delivered by a system comprising more than 250 individual NEXO loudspeakers installed throughout the France Pavilion.
Compact GEO M line arrays cover the area in front of the Pavilion, while an ID14 LCR system is virtually invisible in the entry lobby.
Also visually discreet is the ID14 system in the first art installation featuring a stunning Aubusson tapestry by Hayao Miyazaki, then on up a walkway covered from above by 16 x NEXO ID14s delivering a unique wavefield synthesis by IRCAM composers.
Unique aural and visual experiences from AXA combine work by the musician Rone, the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj and the filmmaker Thierry De Mey, delivered by a hugely powerful ‘cinema style’ NEXO P18 system with L20 subs hidden behind the curved screen and complemented by ID14 and ID24 top and surround speakers.
Then it’s off to pay a vibrant tribute to Louis Vuitton’s savoir-faire in a room where 85 Wardrobe trunks surround the united hands of Rodin’s La Cathédrale with the characteristic rhythm of the mechanical murmur of the workshops reproduced by an entirely invisible series of NEXO ID14s.
In Dior’s space, compact ID14s are mounted on hidden brackets and finished in white to complement the stunning display of collections that create an ode to the virtuosity of the Parisian Ateliers.
NEXO’s ePS Outdoor speakers make perfect sense in a tranquil garden which is watered every day and features a 1000-year-old olive tree, before visitors head underground where NEXO P8s and L15 subs help to create the unique atmosphere in the cellars of the Alsace vineyards.
Resonant with the geography of Japan comes an archipelago made up 3 islands, the first showing the rebirth of Notre-Dame de Paris following the fire in 2019, the second featuring Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey which has benefited from a campaign to restore its island character and ecosystem and the last illustrating France and Japan’s fascination with the Pacific coral lands through the imaginary representation of two of them: Bora-Bora and Iriomote. Although each space has a very different soundtrack, NEXO ID and P+ Series systems help to maintain a consistent sonic signature promoting a fluid journey through the spaces.
Amplification and processing for the installation come from a total of 65 x NEXO Powered TD Controllers, drawn from both nanoNXAMP and NXAMPMk2 ranges.
“The sound quality is really good, it really covers all the spaces” reports Maxime Poirot, in charge of sound installation at the France Pavilion for Cofrex. “The speakers proved to be ‘plug and play’ in the sense that once the speaker is installed in in the space, it already sounds very good. There are really minimal adjustments required for the different locations as some reverberate more than others, but I find the quality really very good. And I received very good support from NEXO, even before my arrival on site.”
“We started working with Cofrex back in September last year, advising on the system design and performance modelling, then the network configuration, naming devices and setting IPs so the installers could arrive on-site with everything already prepared offline” says NEXO Engineering Support Director François Deffarges, taking up the story.
“The amplifiers and speakers were delivered on site in January by the supplier Loct’ambule, and the NEXO ES team has been on site since February 1st, assisting with installing speakers, cabling, building racks and so on.
“During the tuning stage the NEXO NeMo App was extremely helpful as we could work wirelessly in each zone to EQ the speakers as required. Then in the final stage before opening, we were able to assist with synchronizing the spaces to ensure the consistency of the ‘beat’ that takes visitors on their journey through the Pavilion.
Speaking on behalf of Cofrex, Pavilion Director Philippe Mille says “This is a complex project requiring a very specific sound system. There are more than 240 channels with innumerable loudspeakers and multiple challenges, both because of the very high demands of the experience design and the installation constraints related to this very distinctive building.
“So, we were looking for a French technical service provider with a very high level of skills. We reached out to a couple of manufacturers and NEXO immediately responded and met the demand, and has supported us very well in the development and engineering stages, in pre-production and then in production, and on-site with the daily presence of their ‘in-house’ engineers who have not only guided us but were also extremely active during the installation period.”
Speaking in conclusion for NEXO, President Jean Mullor says “As a French company, manufacturing in France, we are proud that our products have been chosen to help represent to the world the best of French culture, craft and technology. And as part of the Yamaha group of companies, we are particularly proud that our speakers have been selected for this prestigious event in Japan, the home of Yamaha.”
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