Forget VR and AR
Grand Palais Immersif focuses on Photogrammetry
© Maxime Chermat pour Iconem-GPI, 2022
An interview with Roei Amit
While the Grand Palais in Paris is currently closed to the public for extensive renovation, its latest endeavour – Grand Palais Immersif – is making its great debut at the Opéra Bastille this fall with a breath-taking exhibition : Venise Révélée (Venice Revealed).
Grand Palais Immersif, as its name suggests, is a subsidiary of the Reunion des Musées Nationaux - Grand Palais, dedicated to producing large-scale immersive digital exhibitions. Although Venise Révélée is their first immersive exhibition at their temporary but none the less grandiose location – the Opéra Bastille – this is far from a trial run for Grand Palais.
In 2016, they pioneered the format with the “Eternal Sites– From Bamiyan to Palmyra” a 360° immersion into Syrian and Iraqi archaeological sites, threatened or already wiped out by war and ISIS. In 2020, the Pompeii exhibition, still at the Grand Palais was “a proof of concept” for the projects to come.
Last month I met with Roei Amit, Director of Grand Palais Immersive and former Head of Digital & Multimedia at Grand Palais to visit the much awaited Venise Révélée.
© Maxime Chermat pour Iconem-GPI, 2022
A tricky synthesis : immersion, emotion, education
While other immersive experiences such as the Atelier des Lumières, a new exhibition format led by French company Culturespaces, tend to focus more on the visuals and “wow effect” of their large-scale projections, Grand Palais Immersif strives to “elicit emotions while respecting scientific requirements” explains Roei Amit.
Yet, finding that balance between scientific requirements and a sensitive approach is a delicate task. Roei Amit and his team approach every new immersive exhibition as a prototype — an opportunity to test, learn and improve.
Last spring, Grand Palais Immersif, in partnership with the Louvre, opened La Joconde: an immersive exhibition in Marseille, France, focused on the legendary Mona Lisa. “Our first version focused on storytelling and educational content alongside the emotional aspect of the experience – the scientific components were very present, allowing visitors to access easily expert content but sometimes to the detriment of the immersion itself”.
© Maxime Chermat pour Iconem-GPI, 2022
Photogrammetry and hybrid touring exhibitions: a unique visitor experience
For Venise Révélée, the exhibition currently on show at the Opéra Bastille, Grand Palais Immersif partenered with ICONEM a company specializing in 3D digitization of heritage sites. While most immersive exhibitions tend to use large-scale projections to create a sense of immersion, or VR and AR to soak visitors in a given experience, ICONEM works with photogrammetry, a technology permitting the creation of a gigantic 3D model of Venice – a perfect digital double of the Serenissima.
Amit explains that the photogrammetry process not only offers an undeniable scientific advantage: “as it represents the whole city in volume with the highest fidelity”, it also allows for different immersive scenarios to be suggested to visitors. “I believe it really gives visitors an opportunity to meet the content at different levels and for different time-lengths, something that can’t quite be achieved with other technologies,” he shares.
According to Amit, those hybrid formats are more complex to produce and render in an exhibition however, they allow for various visitor journeys to emerge. With this in mind, Roei Amit and his team have been working on ways to develop content for the pre and post-visit while questioning the best options when it comes to exhibition interpretation “what does a guided visit look like in an immersive and hybrid space? How can we reinvent the practice of guiding and interpreting in this new light?”.
© Maxime Chermat pour Iconem-GPI, 2022
Putting together an immersive exhibition: numbers and timescale
“It takes three years to put together an exhibition such as this one” says Roei Amit about Venice Revealed “and it calls for a multiplicity of skills and talented team members: a curating team, a director, a scenographer, a multimedia producer, a composer and so on,” he explains.
The budget is “a good million euros” with the aim to break even with operating revenues. Tickets sell at 12€-16€, an average fare for temporary exhibitions in Paris. “It’s very difficult to go below that fee without subsidies” explains Amit who mentions that many people can however benefit from reduced or free entry, such as students, job seekers, families, etc.
I ask him about the future of immersive exhibitions, “it is a developing market” he says, confessing that he biggest barrier to the circulation of their exhibitions in other places is other venues’ lack of equipment. However, this doesn’t stop the Grand Palais Immersif from touring parts of their past exhibitions (La Joconde, Pompeii), thanks to an adapted format, with the aim to offer immersive art experiences to residents of small and rural towns throughout France (cf. Muse project).
© Maxime Chermat pour Iconem-GPI, 2022
Is your institution currently developing or offering a unique model of visitor experience? We are looking for ideas, case studies and potential speakers to build our conference programs for 2023 and 2024 ! If you have a project you’d like to showcase, get in touch with our program curator Alexia Jacques-Casanova (alexia@communicatingthearts.com) or fill our Call for Speakers for our upcoming conference in Singapore, Novermber 2023.