The Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas,

close to Mercator’s birth town, called

in the help of researchers from Ghent

University, amongst other experts, to set

up the prestigious digital exhibition in

honor of Mercator. Over 12,000 people

visited the temporary expo. And many

more will do so in the future, as the

exhibit will travel to several renowned

museums throughout Europe.

Centerpieces of the Mercator Digital

exhibition included Mercator’s original

globe from 1541, his celestial globe

from 1551 and some of his atlases. In

seven kiosks, visitors found a digital pre-

sentation of different aspects of his life,

his work and its scientiﬁc impact. Com-

puter animations, video coverage and

interactive touch screens put the maps,

atlases and globes in an exciting, con-

temporary context.

Plenty of museum references

“Kiosk 1, where we invited visitors to

travel around the world in the 16th cen-

tury, had to be one of the highlights of

the exhibit,” said museum curator Ward

Bohé. “We believed projection would

be the best way to zoom in on diverse

details of the rotating globe as it was

pictured by Mercator in 1541.” The team

immediately thought of Barco projec-

tors, which they consider the leading

provider of visualization solutions. Barco

integrator/partner Maverick ICS was se-

lected for media design and to deliver

the projection systems, on account of its

countless references in other Belgium

museums, like the Sagalassos exhibi-

tion in Tongeren or the MAS in Antwerp.

Both Barco and Maverick ICS offered

sponsorship support too.

Three-chip DLP brightness

Bohé and Johan Schelfhout, Managing

Director of Maverick ICS, sat around the

table frequently to work out the best

concept. “The challenges were similar

to those of most exhibitions. We wanted

a rear-projection system that would en-

sure uniform, bright images on a me-

dium-sized screen, with rich color, even

from some distance and from different

angles. On top of that, the projectors

had to be silent, so that they would not

disturb the experience of the visitors.

And they had to be reliable, of course,

to ensure permanent uptime with-

out a falloff in quality. I was conﬁdent

the three-chip RLM-W6 DLP projectors

would be the perfect ﬁt for the job. At

a very competitive price, by the way.”

Ten times as silent

Barco’s RLM-W6 is the world’s ﬁrst

three-chip DLP projector that is avail-

able for the price of a single-chip DLP

product. That means users can enjoy

Barco nv

Pres. Kennedypark 35, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium

Tel. +32 56 36 80 47 - Fax + 32 56 36 83 86

email: sales.events@barco.com

www.barco.com/events

M30300-ROO-0912-AN

the ultimate in color and image qual-

ity - WUXGA 1920X1200 resolution and

6,000 lumens light output -, without too

much pressure on their budget. More-

over, the RLM-W6 is ten times as silent

and consumes 33% less power than

comparable projectors. Its noise-reduc-

ing and power-saving design, as well

as its user-friendliness, make it ideal for

use in large, public exhibitions.

Quality and reliability

Johan had promised the projectors would

be quiet but we couldn’t believe how

quiet they really were,” Bohé laughed.

“On top of that, they have proven their

quality and reliability every day. Look-

ing back on the past six months, we

are very satisﬁed with the installation

as well as the professional support from

Maverick ICS. Johan was available 24/7,

even on weekend days.”

The closing of the exhibition in Sint-

Niklaas, at the end of August 2012, was

not the end of Mercator Digital. Differ-

ent museums and projects abroad, in-

cluding the Scheepvaartmuseum (Na-

tional Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam

have shown interest in renting parts of

the exhibit. As for the RLM-W6 projec-

tors, the customer was so pleased with

the Barco gear that it will permanently

move to the actual Mercator Museum it-

self, which has big plans to go digital for

all its exhibits very soon.

Customer:

Mercator museum

Website: http://musea.sint-niklaas.be/mercator

Challenges and objectives:

∙ High-quality projectors with low noise levels

Barco solution and services:

∙ 4 x Barco RLM-W6 projectors

∙ Additional services by Maverick ICS: 24/7 support

(incl. swap with own Barco projectors in case of failure)

Why Barco:

∙ Low-noise projector

∙ Precise color and image quality (3-chip DLP)

∙ Excellent uniformity and brightness for medium

screen sizes (5 m screen width) and rear projection

without hotspot and falloff

∙ Green projector: long lamp life duration and low

energy consumption