Klimt, the immersive exhibition in the world’s largest digital art center, starts in Bordeaux. The exhibition dedicated to the Viennese painter is held in Bordeaux and is preparing to enchant the public through plays of light and projections.
The Bassins de Lumières is literally “basins of light,” the most extensive digital art center in the world. To open the cycle of exhibitions there is an immersive retrospective that focuses on the unmistakable golds, colors, and nudes of Gustav Klimt.
Klimt’s digital exhibition
Curated by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto, and Massimiliano Siccardi, the exhibition celebrates Klimt’s artistic revolution. On view, famous paintings such as The Kiss, Judith I, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Many others also come together in a play of lights and projections, sliding on the surface of the water. A real immersion, where the spectator certainly enters the work of art by walking on the docks that line the large basins and on the walkways that cross them.
Until February 3, 2021, the former submarine base will also host the exhibition “Paul Klee: musical painting”. The show celebrates the work of the German painter, musician, and professor. In particular, the show, which blends images and sounds, leads the viewer from an opera overture in an imaginary city to an underwater concert between multicolored fish.
Immersive digital experiences
Built-in 1941 in one year, the naval base could accommodate up to 15 submarines. The base survived the bombings of the Second World War and eventually got free in August 1944. Transformed into an industrial district after the war, it has then undergone several attempts at redevelopment. In 2018 it became the most important digital art center in the world. Modern and contemporary works are projected in the four basins 110 meters long, 22 wide and 12 deep. A total area of 13 thousand square meters and a surface dedicated to projections of 12 thousand square meters. In particular, it includes 90 projectors and 80 speakers.
Above all, the walls of the four basins will host a continuous cycle of digital exhibitions. In particular, these will alternate between lengthy retrospectives and shorter shows where contemporary works and digital artists will find space. The six exhibition areas include: Le Cube, a 220 square meters soundproof and isolated area, dedicated to artists specialized in immersive art; The Citerne, with an area of 155 square meters, acts as a link with the museums and houses the original works used for digital projections; Les Grands Nénuphars, area dedicated to the screening of images on the water; a museum space that traces the history of the underwater base; an educational area and a mezzanine floor to offer viewpoints from different heights.