Editor’s note: This post was originally published on Aug. 3.
The historic Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank in Tribeca has recently been reimagined as the Hall des Lumieres, a custom-designed space for digital art experiences. The project is a result of a collaboration between France’s leading private manager of museums, Culturespaces, and global events leader IMG. Modeled after Culturespaces’ other digital art centers around the globe, including the Atelier des Lumieres in Paris, the Hall des Lumieres aims to be a permanent location where visitors can immerse themselves in some of the world’s most celebrated works of art.
The hall’s debut exhibition, “Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion,” pays tribute to the famed Austrian artist and his most iconic pieces. It officially opened to the public last week.
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Inside the Hall des Lumieres
Located at 49 Chambers Street, the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank was originally built between 1909 and 1912, and it still retains the beautiful Beaux-Arts architectural style popular in that era. The redesign incorporates elements of the historic space, using the spectacular architecture as a canvas for immersive digital art exhibitions.
The “Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion” exhibition features 30-foot-tall images of celebrated works by the artist that move across the walls, columns and even the floor of the structure in a way that celebrates both Klimt’s artwork and the marble walls, stained glass skylights and towering columns of the building.
The multimedia nature of the exhibition creates “the opportunity to play with different senses and emotions, placing the public at the very heart of the experience and inviting them to move through a multidimensional space where they end up becoming an integral part of the work, surrounded by images on the walls, floors and ceiling,” creative director Gianfranco Iannuzzi told TPG.
The 360-degree imagery, along with a specifically arranged musical soundtrack featuring Wagner, Beethoven, Puccini and others, creates a unique experience that blends art, sound and architecture.
Hall des Lumieres is just the latest multimedia and immersive art experience to arrive in New York City. Travelers may already be familiar with the recent “Van Gogh Exhibit NYC: The Immersive Experience” which opened in June of 2022 and the “Kusama: Cosmic Nature Experience” which was held at the New York Botanical Garden in 2021. Both of those popular exhibitions had a limited run, however, with the opening of the Hall des Lumieres, there is now a permanent space available for these kinds of grand-scale digital works in the future.
Inaugural exhibition
Tickets for “Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion” are on sale for $30 for adults and $15 for children between the ages of 5 and 16. Children under the age of 5 can enter for free.
Special prices are also available for seniors (65 and older) and members of the military. Tickets are on sale through the end of the year, with 2023 dates coming soon.
Tickets also include several other exhibitions. One examines the works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian artist inspired by Klimt, while another features a contemporary creation by the interdisciplinary studio Nohlab, titled “5 Movements,” which will guide visitors to explore space and time through a performer’s five different types of body movements.
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