Klimt of the caves

The walls of an abandoned quarry in the picturesque French town Les Baux-de-Provence are “blossoming” now with pictures by Gustav Klimt. These are multimedia projections of the artist’s best known works, such as The Kiss, Judith II, Women Friends, etc. The grandiose exhibition space, Carrieres de Lumieres, in the quarry is full of various sound effects. The organizers thus want to prove that interactivity is a far more enthralling way to enjoy true art than a routine visit to a museum. For here you can even… walk into the picture and feel yourself part of it.

The show “Klimt and Vienna: a Century of Gold and Colors” was organized prepared by a team of Italian artists and stage directors Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Massimiliano Siccardi, and Renaro Gatto. In addition to Gustav Klimt’s pictures, the walls also display the projections of his contemporaries and the artists he inspired, namely, Egon Schiele and Friedensreich Hundertwasser. On the whole, the multimedia show uses thousands of the digitized reproductions of outstanding artworks by the Viennese artists who tried to drop academic traditions. The pictures are projected one by one onto the former quarry’s walls and floor, moving to the rhythm of a musical soundtrack and immersing visitors in the whirlwind of colors and sounds.

The themes of Carrieres de Lumieres multimedia shows change annually. French and foreign tourists can see Klimt until January 4, 2015.