Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Digital merriment at La Gaîté Lyrique



This city is indefatigable in her marathon reputation for creative institutions and unique art centers.  Now, it is the turn of a location celebrating the brave new world of digital and electronic cultures which raises our technical fascination for gadgets to the honorable position of tools for imaginative and creative use.

La Gaîté Lyrique, a theatre whose present  form dates back to 1863 and witnessed the popularity of the operette and the world of the Belle Époque, fell into a sad and crumbling state after multiple vicissitudes during the XX century. The paladin of new cultural institutions, the city mayor, Bertrand Delanoë has come to the rescue of La Gaîté Lyrique and helped to transform this dying frog into a digital prince.

After eight years of redevelopment the building reopened in March 2011, offering a showcase of temporary exhibitions, music concerts, interactive experiences and a digital library. The space redesigned by the  French architect Manuelle Gautrand shares with the “104”, the other pet project of Delanoë, a firm belief in the fluid nature of public spaces.  Gautrand herself  thinks that the space is best defined as a “magnificent toolbox”. As technologies blend and its uses expand, the stage is set for the new generations to play, invent and create within the modular nature of this novel environment.


The present interactive exhibition “2062 aller-retour vers le futur” embodies this philosophy through cutting edge  proposals: a hypnosis session in a soundproof box, video art and a robot displaying the operations of the financial markets are some of the exhibits that move us fast to a future that is almost now.
http://www.gaite-lyrique.net/

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