Harman's Martin MAC Viper Profile Series Lights Up Les Francofolies Music Festival

The annual Les Francofolies summer music festival, held in Spa, Belgium, promotes francophone music and attracts hundreds of thousands of fans over a five-day span. ARTO, a Brussels-based production company, handled the festival's production and lighting design, which consisted exclusively of Harman's Martin Professional lighting fixtures. As an integral part of the system, ARTO deployed 28 Martin MAC Viper Profile moving head fixtures in addition to several other Martin luminaires.

The MAC Viper Profile is a high-output profile luminaire that boasts superior light quality, an exceptional feature set, and a highly optical system. With its 1000W HID source, the Viper consumes less power, making it more than 50% more efficient than its 1200W rivals. Not only is the Viper Profile brighter, but it is also a faster and more compact solution. Housed in a slender and agile body, the Viper's responsiveness and fast pan/tilt speeds have led it to become a favorite among designers.

"I chose to work with the MAC Viper Profiles for many reasons," says lighting designer Gilles Mathieu. "The colors are very nice. The red especially is a real primary red. The speed and range of the zoom is excellent, and it only draws five amps of power. Logistically speaking, the Vipers were really simple to hang and we were also able to place them on the floor when necessary."

In addition, the main stage design also included 26 MAC 2000 XB Wash lights, 24 MAC Aura LED moving heads, and eight Atomic 3000 strobe light fixtures. The MAC 2000 Wash lights offered a combination of power and color mixing, that Mathieu discussed, would not have been possible with other fixtures, the company says. The multi-function and zoom capabilities of the MAC Auras, paired with the robust color and unique power savings, were a huge asset to the live show, especially during the daylight.