The latest Numix Lab (between Brussels and Amsterdam, December 4-8, 2023) was an opportunity to examine the practices surrounding digital art and the places that host it. A very active 5-day immersion where Unframed Collection was able to set down its camera and interview those who connect XR creation with the general public.
Fourth meeting : Laurent Dondey is in charge of development and international touring for exhibitions at the Grand Palais Immersif in Paris, a subsidiary of the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais specializing in the production, operation and distribution of digital exhibitions for Parisian, national and international audiences.
Laurent Dondey – The exhibitions presented at Grand Palais Immersif are designed for the venue, but from the outset with the possibility of traveling, reformatting and adapting to different locations in France and abroad. Visual and audio content can be presented elsewhere, always with an immersive intention.
What are your models of cooperation?
Laurent Dondey – We originally came from a museum environment, with a strong scientific focus. And we want to keep it that way, in our encounters with the audiovisual world, documentary professionals, graphic designers and computer graphics artists. 3D creation, in real-time engines or virtual worlds, is particularly dynamic, and that’s what interests us. We need to encourage this type of encounter, which is often happy but complex, and requires real artistic direction. This is an essential part of each of our exhibitions, bringing together music composers, graphic designers, developers, interaction specialists and so on.
Could you cite a few examples of productions you’ve initiated?
Laurent Dondey – POMPÉI was a forerunner in the movement initiated by the Grand Palais Immersif. It was a hybrid exhibition presented in 2020, integrating a classical approach with objects from the archaeological park of the Pompeii site. But also an immersive and digital creation component, with 4 Domus each representing a strong theme with an immersive experience.
Laurent Dondey – A second example might be the presentation in Marseille of an exhibition around the Mona Lisa, even more immersive with a real environment all around the room and immersive islands dealing with different subjects. Last year, Venice Revealed inaugurated the perennial Grand Palais Immersif in a former rehearsal hall of the Opéra Bastille and a large cathedral hall. Superb drone and photogrammetry images produced by Iconem in a particularly immersive setting.
Laurent Dondey – More recently, we hosted “Eternel Mucha”, a film about the Art Nouveau painter, with a biopic-like approach that showed the graphic influence of Alphonse Mucha right up to the present day. Finally, we’ve just opened a new exhibition dedicated to urban art in the digital age, with “Loading”, whose content was produced by the Atlas V company, and a real journey around social and sociological themes on urban art today.
How do you imagine the museum of the future?
Laurent Dondey – We’ll no doubt have new screens, LED or otherwise. For me, the question of interactivity is essential, because it changes the relationship between the viewer and the passive/active part of the experience. We’re going to be able to project ourselves and see outside the walls.