Paris (AFP)

Completely immerse yourself in masterpieces in XXL format or in works by digital artists using their computer like other brushes ... The "immersive art" sees its rating soaring with the general public.

"People want new experiences and discovering artistic concepts, immersive art is of interest to all audiences, geeks + as well as older people," explains Michael Couzigou, head of the Atelier des Lumières, an art center. launched in April 2018 in Paris.

In a year and a half, this site exceeded expectations by attracting more than two million visitors to discover the works of Klimt and Van Gogh in close-up, appearing on the walls of the old smelter or shirking under their walls. feet.

The opening in Japan of the Mori Building Digital Art Museum, in Tokyo, at the initiative of the teamLab collective and with the support of several giants of technology, from Panasonic to Epson, confirms the "boom" of this artistic form .

"We believe that digital art can extend the concept of beauty", summarizes in its manifesto the collective, who exhibited his work at La Villette in spring-summer 2018. About 300,000 visitors have tried the experience to blend in dreamlike landscapes and luminous waterfalls imagined by the Japanese collective.

- All-digital era -

This craze appears logical in an ultra-connected world, for the semiologist Pauline Escande-Gauquié, a teacher at Celsa.

But the concept of immersion "has not arrived with digital cinema has already been considered in its early days as an immersive experience," she recalls, with these spectators frightened to see a train rush on them, in front of them a film of the Lumière brothers at the end of the 19th century.

Immersive art "is a new form of representation of the world, it is not new, but it is more advanced" in terms of technology, points this digital specialist.

Especially since the techniques of "motion design" used are already part of our daily life, via special effects, adds the director of the Atelier des Lumières which hosts, from this Friday, a festival dedicated to the immersive art. This festival is a first on such a scale, to show the creative dimension of this movement and discover what is happening globally.

Ouchhh, Superbien, the Vandals, Algorithm, Spectrelab ... These names say nothing to the greatest number but are those of artists collectives, from France, Belgium, Turkey etc., a jury of professionals and the public will have to decide between now and October 24th. A key: six months of exposure for the winner.

- In Bordeaux and Lyon -

These graphic artists, some of whom are already collaborating on projects with companies or web surfers, have the mission of proposing an original, immersive concept limited to a maximum of 4 minutes.

The specifications also require the use of the 140 projectors of the Atelier and the 3,300 m2 of surface on which we can project works and plunge the spectators into the cosmos, the forest or any fantasy universe.

A key player in the sector, the operator Culturespaces does not intend to stop there and plans to open a third center of digital art in April 2020, after the Careers of Lights in Baux-de-Provence, opened in 2012 and the Parisian Lighting Workshop.

Called "the Pools of Light", this new project will take shape in a part of the underwater base of Bordeaux. The monumental site should add a new dimension to the immersive experience with the presence of four pools of water, reflecting the paintings.

Elsewhere also, the concept makes emulators. In Lyon, it is at La Sucrière to inaugurate these days an immersive exhibition dedicated to Picasso.

In a setting designed by the architect Rudy Ricciotti, designer of the Mucem in Marseille, "Imagine Picasso" promises a "real closeness to works" and emotions increased tenfold "in a totally different from the silent and sacred museum."

A vision that makes cringe, some seeing a deviation of the intentions of the artist and a deformation pure and simple works.

© 2019 AFP