Bassins de Lumières: Opening of a new digital art centre in Bordeaux's submarine base

BORDEAUX.- On 17 April 2020, Culturespaces will open the largest digital art centre in the world: the Bassins de Lumières.

France’s leading private operator in the management and promotion of monuments, museums, and art centres, Culturespaces is pursuing the creation of digital art centres and immersive exhibitions.

Located in Bordeaux’s former submarine base, the BASSINS DE LUMIÈRES will present monumental immersive digital exhibitions devoted to the major artists in the history of art and contemporary art. The submarine base’s surface area is three times the size of that of the Carrières de Lumières in Les Baux-de-Provence and five times that of the Atelier des Lumières in Paris.

The digital exhibitions will be perfectly adapted to the monumental architecture of the submarine base and will be reflected in the water of the four enormous basins, thereby adding a new dimension to the immersive experience. Visits will be conducted on gangways above the water and along the quays of the enormous basins.

‘Following the creation of the Atelier des Lumières, we are pleased that we have created this enormous digital art centre for the City of Bordeaux. The Bassins de Lumières will offer visitors unforgettable visual and audio experiences in a unique setting, a place for sharing culture that is open to all types of visitors.’ --Bruno Monnier, President of Culturespaces

The Bassins de Lumières: key figures

• 110-metre-long, 22-metre-wide, and twelve-metre-deep basins
• a total surface area of 13,000 m2
• 12,000 m2 of projection surface
• 3,000 m2 of itinerary floor space
• 90 video projectors and 80 speakers

Immersive digital exhibitions Throughout the year, the Bassins de Lumières will hold exhibitions for lovers of traditional and contemporary art, and several exhibitions will be presented simultaneously:

• around the four enormous basins will be presented a continuous cycle of immersive digital exhibitions alternating between a long exhibition, devoted to the major artists in the history of art, and a shorter exhibition devoted to more contemporary works.

• in Le Cube, a new 8-metre-high area with a surface area of 220 m2, devoted to contemporary artists specialising in immersive art, will be presented works by established and up-and-coming digital artists

• in La Citerne, a new 7-metre-high area with a surface area of 155 m2, the links between original works and their originating museums will be explored.

The exhibitions will be renewed each year. The venue will be open 7 days a week.
Simulation

2020 exhibition programme:

AROUND THE BASINS: ‘Gustav Klimt: gold and colour’ – long programme
To mark its opening, the Bassins de Lumières will focus on a century of Viennese painting and take an original look at Gustav Klimt and his successors through a presentation of portraits, landscapes, nudes, colours, and gilding. Klimt led the Vienna Secession, a movement that sought to break away from academic art: he paved the way to modern painting. The gold and decorative motifs are a symbol of this artistic revolution. Visitors will discover large-format masterpieces, such as the famous work The Kiss, and will be immersed in Imperial Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century.

‘Paul Klee: painting music’ – short programme
This immersive exhibition will be devoted to the colourful abstract works by the German artist Paul Klee. A painter and also a musician and professor, the immersive exhibition will pay tribute to Klee’s pictorial world. It will take visitors from an opera overture in an imaginary city to an underwater concerto amidst gold and multicoloured fish, and the rhythm of its geometric structures. Lastly, tens of corresponding portraits and puppets accompanied by Papageno’s song will conclude an enchanting interlude that combines painting and music.

IN LE CUBE, DEVOTED TO CONTEMPORARY DIGITAL ART:
Ocean Data In Le Cube, a special exhibition space, visitors will be able to discover a new work by the digital creation studio Ouchhh, which specialises in graphic design, motion design, and digital projections. Ouchhh uses Artificial Intelligence to create images and questions the act of artistic creation. Ocean Data is composed of millions of data captured in the sea in order to create a unique digital work in which forms, light, and movement are generated through an algorithm. Visitors will be taken into the heart of the ocean and embark on a journey through different materials, colours, and reliefs. The work combines art, science, and technology to create a contemplative experience.

Le Cube will also present works by young contemporary digital art studios based in Bordeaux.

IN LA CITERNE, DEVOTED TO LINKS BETWEEN ORIGINAL WORKS AND THEIR ORIGINATING MUSEUMS:
During the immersive exhibitions, the paintings used as a basis for the work of the video makers will be presented in their entirety, with their name and the museum in which they are exhibited.