Fabrique des Lumières, Digital art museum in Westergasfabriek, Netherlands.
Fabrique des Lumières is a digital art museum in Amsterdam housed inside a former gasworks building from the nineteenth century. The industrial walls and the floor of the hall both serve as projection surfaces, with dozens of projectors covering every corner of the space.
The building was constructed in the nineteenth century as a gasworks that supplied the city of Amsterdam with energy. After it closed down, it stood empty for years before being converted into a space for digital art exhibitions.
The exhibitions bring works by painters such as Vermeer and Van Gogh to life through large digital projections paired with carefully chosen music. Visitors move freely through the space and see the images from every angle at once, which feels very different from looking at a framed canvas on a wall.
Comfortable shoes are a good idea since the visit involves walking through a large hall for an extended period. Going in the evening or during quieter hours can make the projections easier to take in, as the surrounding light is lower.
The projections cover not just the walls but also the floor, so visitors literally stand inside the artwork as it moves around them. This format was developed in France and Amsterdam is one of the first places outside France where it has been set up on this scale.
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