Bruno Monnier is the CEO of Culturespaces, a company that oversees the management of historical monuments, museums, and art centers. Gianfranco Iannuzzi is the Digital Artist and Creative Director of Immersive Art Exhibitions. In his 30 years career span, he has held numerous digital art exhibitions not just in France but around the globe. The latest addition to their digital art center is Infinity Des Lumières at Dubai Mall. Here is an excerpt from Magzoid’s conversation with Bruno and Gianfranco about their journey through immersive art.
Q1. You have prominently established yourselves as successful designers making your mark in the creative industry. We would like to know about your very first step in the art world?
Gianfranco: I was born in Venice; Italy which is a town where art is everywhere. As a kid, whenever I looked at the reflection of the city in the water, I saw the image change every time. Back then, I felt it was no less than magic. That was the first nudge that pushed me into this world; to do something new with image and put it out in the world for the people to see. Whenever anyone asked me what I wanted as a present, the answer would be a camera. I used to take lots of photos back then. However, I wanted something more than to just frame the photos, just like the water in Venice. I wanted the world to see something different. Maybe immersive art as I know it started from there.
Bruno: Art had a strong presence in my family. I studied art and management and after I joined the French Ministry of Culture, I would see how museums and historical monuments were managed in the modern world. When I started, I created a space to bring new ways to showcase historical monuments in museums. It all started with a cave where some people were projecting images on the walls and Gianfranco had participated too. The Municipality Le Baux de Provence in France created a competition and we ended up winning it. Gianfranco helped us create a completely new space. It was my first step into this world and in France, it led to Lumière. A new concept of a digital art center, something different from a classic exhibition. We grew into this art niche with the help of Gianfranco.
Q2. Please tell us a bit about your educational background and how it influences your growth and actions now?
Gianfranco: My education is not related to art, per se. However, I was quite passionate about art. In the end, although unrelated, my education does play a role in what I do because subjects like geometry and sociology are vital in understanding society as we know it. In the digital art exhibition, people are experiencing the artwork individually but they are all together in the same space. This is where sociology comes in as it focuses on people and how they interact with each other. The world is too much to experience individually.
Bruno: When I was in the French Ministry of Culture, I realized that 30% of the French population are involved with art but 70% of them do not know much about it. This brings us to digital art and its purpose. We aim to bring in a new set of audience and introduce them to art. I also created a foundation whereby we could bring access to arts and culture to underprivileged and sick children.
Q3. What were your motivations to hop into what you do today?
Gianfranco: We aim to create something unique and share it with the world, to bring people together to experience immersive art and actively participate in what they see. Bruno and the company have created an opportunity where we can implement it. It is exciting for me to create new spaces to present to people.
Bruno: Exhibitions created by Gianfranco make this a wonderful experience. It is unlike anything out there in the market. We spark emotions within our visitors as they get immersed in the artwork, the artist, and the story.
Q4. Do you think Culturespaces has inspired other museums and cultural institutions to stage more digital exhibits?
Bruno: I think it is perfectly complementary. The purpose of digital art centers is to bring art to people albeit in a different way, a way we have never seen art before. It is for people who have not had much interaction with art as well as for those who have but can now experience it digitally. I think people who discover art here get to learn about the art and the artists, for example, Van Gogh. Museums will always be classic but they are not accessible to everyone. We bridge that gap by providing access to classic artworks halfway across the world.
Q5. Do you think the future of museums is digital?
Gianfranco: No, I personally don’t think so. Digital museums are a completely separate thing from museums. It opens a new medium. As Bruno said, we can project Van Gogh’s artwork through technology but museums are still a classic.
Bruno: Let’s put it this way; digital art is a museum for everybody and museums are for people to see the original artwork.
Q6. How has digital art evolved since you first started?
Bruno: I would say the development process has changed. With the availability of up-to-date technology, there have been new animations. We have decided to create quality spaces with a french touch- this has been our strategy and we believe it applies in the coming years as well. To be more concise, our evolution comes with technological evolution.
Q7 What do you look for when you are in the planning stage of creating the immersive artistic installation?
Gianfranco: The first thing I focus on is the space. For me, it is about taking an empty space and seeing how it is molded into something else, what kind of things can be done with the space. Moreover, how do people make sense of my work and what can they learn from it.
Q8. What are your current projects for the Infinity Des Lumières in particular?
For the upcoming year, we are taking inspiration from France to bring it to Dubai, keeping in mind the difference in audience. Nothing has been set in stone so far, which makes it quite interesting.
Q9. What message do you have for our readers?
It is important to dream. Keep dreaming and try to make it a reality. Experience immersive art for yourself with Infinity Des Lumières.