MAY | BIGGER PICTURE
Stroke of genius
What: Starry Night
Where: Atelier des Lumières, Paris
When: 22 February - 21 December
Atelier des Lumières, Paris, holds digital exhibitions that
immerse visitors in the pictorial world of the greatest
artists. Opened in April 2018, the venue uses AMIEX
(Art Music & Immersive Experience) technology, which
coordinates thousands of quality and extremely precise
images on a large scale, with 140 video projectors and a
spatialised sound system. This equipment is used on a
surface area of 3,300sqm, extending from the floor to the
ceiling, with walls up to ten metres high.
Gianfranco Iannuzzi, artistic director, Starry Night
Why did you choose Van Gogh?
Because of his life and work. The new exhibition
highlights the artist’s unique pictorial approach. We
realised it was important to show the thickness of the
paint medium and the impact of the colours, and focus on
the decisiveness of the brushstrokes and use of line, all of
which are so characteristic of van Gogh’s works.
How did you create your digital exhibition?
We began with a selection of around 500 works.
With that as a basis, it took us about a year to create
the immersive exhibition: historical and iconographic
research, producing the storyboard, computational
image processing and production, video animations, the
creation and arrangement of the soundtrack, trials and
adjustments, and so on. In addition to the research and
creative work, there is of course the space in which the
project is developed. It’s a fundamental element of the
project, as the space dictates what the final version of the
exhibition will be like.
How do you use the technology?
We orchestrate the 140 projectors in the area as we
would musical instruments. We use them to create a
symphony of images that interpret the score that makes
up the scenario. However, technology is always a double-
edged sword. You can do amazing things with it, but it
can also impede creativity; as it’s constantly evolving,
each new immersive exhibition needs to match the
expectations of the visitors, who are ever more curious,
connected, and demanding.
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