Colourful projections of early 20th-century paintings, including those by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, are displayed at the Atelier des Lumière–a digital museum dedicated to fine art in Paris.
Overseen byCulturespaces, a private operator of museums and monuments, Atelier des Lumières features artworks projected onto 10-metre-high walls across a 3, 300 square metre area.
Reacting to the impact of technology on the way people experience art, the exhibition space aims to make art accessible to a large audience who do not regularly visit museums or galleries.
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"These immersive exhibitions can be an introductory way to discover pictorial art and such a digital center was lacking in Paris, " explainedMichael Couzigou, director of the Atelier des Lumières, to .
"People do not learn about culture as they did in the past, " saidBruno Monnier, the president ofCulturespaces. "Practices are evolving and the cultural offering must be in step with them. The marriage of art and digital technology is, in my opinion, the future of the dissemination of art among future generations."
Monnier came across the disused foundry five years ago. Following the launch of the Carrières de Lumières art centre in Les Baux-de-Provence in 2012, he wanted to create a digital art museum in Paris.
Paris' First Digital Museum Of Fine Art Finds Home In 19th Century Foundry
The Martin family, owners of the building, offered Monnier the main hall and its annexes in 2014, as a space for the project.
The building has three main exhibition rooms. There are two rooms dedicated to Austrian painter Gustav Klimt and a century of Viennese painting, including works by Egon Schiele andHundertwasser.
A smaller room is reserved for emerging artists and features AI and digital installations: "We want to embrace emerging artists on the contemporary art scene, " Couzigou explained.
Culturespaces Digital Art Museum For Paris
"We decided to focus on Gustav Klimt, on the centenary of his death, for three reasons: the variety of his expressive forms, which range from classicism to early impressionism, and his quest to create a 'total art' during the secession (an art movement at the turn of the 19th century), his fame, and the poetic and romantic nature of his oeuvre, which we saw as an ideal starting point, " said Couzigou.
The artworks are accompanied by a "motion design" sound system with 50 speakers, which features a soundtrack by Wagner, Chopin and Beethoven amongst others.
"It allows visitors to discover art from a new angle and through immersive experiences. We combine classical art and digital art – I am convinced that the marriage of art and digital technology is the future of the dissemination of art among future generations, " saidCouzigou.
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"It is able to reach a younger and wider audience than that of the traditional museums. This approach is not intended to replace museums but is a complementary approach to art, " he explained.
According to the Guardian, more than 400, 000 people visited the museum in the three months following its opening in April this year. "We are already thinking about another site in France, " said Monnier.
Digital art is increasingly playing a part in museums and galleries. Earlier this year, Japanese art collectiveTeamLabused lighting to create a sea of spirallingwhirlpools inside a Melbourne art museum.In a former foundry in eastern Paris, art – including colourful works by Klimt – gets a huge canvas in a multi-sensory experience from museum foundation Culturespaces
Atelier Des Lumières
I t’s 11.30am on a sunny Tuesday and I’m in rue Saint-Maur, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, queuing to collect pre-booked tickets for the noon showing at L’Atelier des Lumières – Paris’s first digital museum of fine art. It’s worth the wait.
The museum is in a former foundry and is operated by Culturespaces, a French museum foundation that specialise in immersive art displays. This is the opening exhibition at what Culturespaces calls its “Workshop of Lights”, and its larger space, La Halle, is dedicated to Gustav Klimt and a century of Viennese painting. There are also works by Egon Schiele and Friedrich Stowasser, better-known as Hundertwasser. A smaller room, Le Studio, is given over to emerging artists – and exploring AI and digital installations.
Using state-of-the-art visuals and audio, artists’ works are transformed as images of their paintings are projected (using 140 laser video projectors) on to (and across) 10-metre-high walls over the vast 3, 300 square metre surface area of the renovated 19th-century building. These images provide an immersive and panoramic show throughout the space, to a sound track of music by Wagner, Chopin, Beethoven and others, using an innovative “motion design” sound system, with 50 speakers programmed to complement the 3D visual experience.
Digital Art On A Monumental Scale At Paris's Atelier Des Lumières
It’s difficult not be overawed by the scale and depth of this futuristic exhibition and the multi-sensory experience it provides. It’s also an attempt to make fine art more accessible and to draw in younger audiences.
Culturespaces president Bruno Monnier says: “People do not learn about culture as they did in the past. The practices are evolving and cultural offering must be in step with them. The marriage of art and digital technology is, in my opinion, the future of the dissemination of art among future generations.”
We enter through a concrete slab in a wall and walk into the foundry, with its tall drying towers, bare walls and illuminated water tank: an ideal canvas for what turns out to be a mesmerising digital display. We stand in the darkness, confused locals mingling with tourists, the pillars towering above us. Then as the overture from Wagner’s Tannhäuser blasts around the room, thousands of images are set in motion. We’re transfixed as 360-degree views of artworks flash around the room. Alive with sound and colour, paintings slowly come into focus, characters come out of their frames and artworks come to life – on the walls, on the cylindrical pillars, on the ceiling and even on the floor beneath our feet.
The First Digital Art Centre In Paris
Over the next 30 minutes, we’re taken on a six-part journey, beginning in neoclassical Vienna, showing Klimt’s works in his home city, on columns at Kunsthistorisches Museum, followed by original posters from the Vienna Secession art movement. The vivid colours of Hundertwasser’s paintings float around the floor, and later become a field of flowers as we move through the nature sequence.
Perhaps the most exciting part is the attention to detail – digitally – of Klimt’s characteristic “golden” phase. Rather than jostling for a spot near a framed painting, I find myself wanting to reach into the space in front of me and touch the gold leaf and decorative motifs of The Kiss and The Tree of Life as they are digitally cast around the venue and set in motion to a Viennese waltz. At the end, gold is replaced with bright colours as we gaze at Klimt’s exotic portraits of women and girls – of all shapes, ages and sizes – elaborate yet elegant and so very beautiful, representing femininity in all its forms.
The appetite is clearly growing for immersive art exhibitions: since it opened three months ago, more than 400, 000 people have visited Atelier des Lumières. According to Monnier this has exceeded Culturespaces expectations: “We are already thinking about another site in France. At the end of this year, we will open a similar digital art centre in South Korea; it will be in a former bunker on the Pacific island of Jeju. We will open our first site in the US in 2019. Our know-how with this technique is unique and sought-after around the world now.”
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It’s the coolest art exhibition I’ve seen in some time, a real addition to Paris’s buzzing 11th arrondissement. Do try and visit.
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