Case Study: NEXT/NOW achieves an immersive, projection-mapped "Rooted in Greatness" Illinois bicentennial art installation with NEC Display Solutions

NEC Projectors Create Outdoor Art Installation for Illinois Bicentennial

NEXT/NOW, a digital experiential agency, was asked to create an immersive outdoor art installation for the Illinois Bicentennial that would combine video and audio to honor notable Illinoisans. To make faces and narratives clearly visible on tree trunks at night despite ambient street lighting, NEXT/NOW turned to NEC Display Solutions and specified three 10,000-lumen, 4K NP-Px1004UL laser projectors with NP21ZL long-throw lenses.

NEC Display Solutions supplied and supported the three NP-Px1004UL projectors and NP21ZL lenses used to projection-map the 20-minute “Rooted in Greatness” piece onto trees outside McCormick Place. The installation went live August 15, 2018 (running through February 15, 2019), drew strong public and emotional responses, reached a venue that sees about 3 million visitors a year, and prompted McCormick Place to plan additional outdoor digital signage — demonstrating NEC Display Solutions’ measurable impact on visibility, image fidelity, and audience engagement.

NEXT/NOW

Mark Matthews

Marketing Strategist