Since 2018, Culturespaces Digital has been working on a major project to develop and enhance four basins at a former World War II submarine base in Bordeaux, France. In addition to the restoration work, the revamp of the whole site – including floors, tanks, foundation, electricity, soundproofing etc. – and the creation of technical areas, such as offices, production room, servers, Culturespaces made the decision to develop the site in order to improve the visitor experience – with the aim being to offer a spectacular, immersive art experience like no other.
The work has resulted in Bassins de Lumières becoming largest digital art centre in the world, with a total projection surface reaching 14,000 sq metres. Overall, the venue consists of four vast ponds – 100 metres long, 22 metres wide and 12 metres high – all of which are dedicated to the main art exhibitions.
To complete the visitor experience, additional areas were created, including an immersive tank, a cube dedicated to contemporary immersive art, a museum space and an educational area.
After a seven-week delay due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the newest digital art centre was inaugurated in June 2020. Bassins de Lumières is the fourth venue created by Culturespaces Digital following the tremendous success of its other digital art centres, including the Atelier des Lumières in Paris.
To make the initial plans a reality, structural works began in May 2019 with restoration of floors, tanks, foundations, electricity and more. This was followed by the AV installation, which started in October 2019 and handled by French integrator, Cadmos.
Augustin de Cointet de Fillain, Director of Culturespaces Digital and Bassins de Lumières, explained: “This project came with two major challenges: the huge size of the venue and the humidity conditions. As we are in a former submarine base with water ponds, we had to deal with unfriendly conditions.”
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