Barco and Culturespaces partnership results in new immersive showpiece Bassins de Lumières

Kortrijk, Belgium, 1 September 2020 – On June 10, 2020, a new exposition, called Bassins de Lumières, opened in Bordeaux, France. The exposition already welcomed more than 300,000 visitors to discover the fine art of Gustav Klimt and Paul Klee in the unexpected setting of a former World War II submarine base. The famous artwork has been recreated by digital artists and is being brought to life by more than 100 Barco projectors as a visually astounding spectacle. The new exposition is the crowning achievement of a recently renewed partnership between Barco and Culturespaces, a key player in Europe’s cultural landscape.

Culturespaces has a history of many years working with Barco projectors to create digital art centers. Bassins de Lumières in Bordeaux is the first project since the renewal of the partnership between Barco and Culturespaces in December 2019.

Digital art center

together with Bruno Monnier, President of Culturespaces.Located in a former World War II submarine base facing the Atlantic Ocean, Bassins de Lumières offers an overwhelming, immersive experience devoted to major names in the history of contemporary art. The Bassins de Lumières program will alternate every year, but the first exhibitions are dedicated to Gustav Klimt and Paul Klee. Moving images of the artwork are projected onto the monumental architecture of the submarine base and reflected in the water of four enormous basins. Visitors can virtually walk into the artwork, by gangways and along the quays of the basins.

“Bassins de Lumières offers a totally unique, sensory experience, including projected video, light and sound,” says Augustin de Cointet de Fillain, Director of Bassins de Lumières and Culturespaces Digital, the exposition organizer. “The mix of the location, the recreated artwork from Klimt and Klee, and the superb image quality of Barco projectors make this exposition an unequaled experience.”

“Following the creation of the Atelier des Lumie?res, we are pleased to have created this enormous digital art center for the City of Bordeaux,” says Bruno Monnier, President of Culturespaces. “The Bassins de Lumie?res will offer visitors an unforgettable visual and audio experience in a unique setting, a place for sharing culture that is open to all types of visitors.” 

A groundbreaking and fruitful collaboration

The enormity of the submarine base structure and available projection surface – almost 14,000 m2 – made the organization decide to pull out all stops when it comes to projection technology. Culturespaces opted for no less than 72 Barco F80-Q12, 27 G60-W10, and 3 UDX-W32 laser projectors to be installed for the Bassins de Lumières project.

Previous Culturespaces projects with Barco projectors have proven to be successful as well. The French cultural organization already created similar digital art centers in Paris, with the Atelier des Lumières, and in Les Baux-de-Provence, with the Carrières de Lumières. But the new Bassins de Lumières project surpasses the previous ones in size: the submarine base’s surface area is three times the size of that of the Carrières de Lumières and eight times that of the Atelier de Lumières.

Renewed partnership

Culturespaces renewed its partnership with Barco in December 2019. The organization chose Barco as the exclusive projection technology partner for existing and future projects for three years. Both companies agreed on the delivery of 168 new laser projectors and a Barco service contract covering the entire equipment fleet.

According to Augustin de Cointet de Fillain, Bassins de Lumières received raving feedback upon its opening in June 2020, which should only make the organization more confident to work on new visual showpieces with Barco.