The Dystopia Festival 2026, held at Parc Expo Rennes, delivered an immersive experience in which lighting played a central role, with a design by the Concept K team supported by CHAUVET Professional technology.
An approach that was evident from the very beginning in the audience’s response: “It was the opening of day two, but people showed up so early! It was incredible, a blessing”, posted French hardstyle DJ Watremez about his experience at the first Dystopia festival of 2026.
That Parc Expo Rennes was filled so early came as no surprise. Beyond performances by international stars such as Azyr and Basswell, as well as local favourites like Watremez, the festival stood out for its atmosphere: an immersive experience that captivated the audience from the very first moment… so why not arrive early?
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At its best, a techno festival should make you lose all sense of time and place, and Dystopia’s two-day event achieved this brilliantly, immersing everyone in a total swirl of light, colour, strobe effects and music.
At the heart of this experience was an inspiring lighting design by the Concept K team, led by Kelian Sevrée and Simon Fouillet, featuring a carefully arranged deployment of 24 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M fixtures and 12 COLORado PXL Bar 16 units.
In addition to designing the festival rig, the Concept K team operated all lighting shows throughout the event and also handled show direction.
We did not have a lighting advance for the festival, so there were no predefined expectations from the artists. Our main challenge was to light the set in a way that would showcase it as effectively as possible. At the same time, we had to optimise the rig to create a design that worked for both the audience and the cameras. The Color STRIKE M fixtures allowed us to light the audience, incorporate strobe effects and deliver enough power to cover the entire venue, explained Kelian.
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As for the 12 COLORado PXL Bar 16 units, they were positioned behind the DJ. From this central location, these pixel-mappable battens with 16 individually controllable moving heads created a wide variety of looks, thanks to features such as WRGBW colour mixing, a wide zoom range (5.8° to 47.9°), and fast 200° tilt capability.
“The COLORado battens helped us create a visual transition between the screen and the set, while also providing a nice backlight behind the DJs”, said Kelian. “The tilt and zoom capabilities allowed the team to achieve wide beam spreads while keeping the screen visible”.
By leveraging the capabilities of these and other fixtures in the rig, the Concept K team created not just a lighting show, but a complete environment in which everyone at Parc Expo Rennes—from the performers on stage to the audience—enjoyed two outstanding days.
