INSTALLAZIONE SPETTACOLO SULL’ARTE DI CARAVAGGIO
FINO AL 3 LUGLIO 2016
#‎caravaggioexperience
#CaravaggioExperience

ROME: His depiction of Judith slitting Holofernes’s throat, blood gushing from the wound, has enthralled art lovers for centuries: now Caravaggio’s portrayal of seduction and betrayal can be “relived” at a high-tech exhibition in Rome.  Fifty-seven paintings by the 16th century artist are from March 24 magnified and projected onto walls inside the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, where 3D images explore their composition and the dramatic use of chiaroscuro, the contrast between light and dark.  From the “Martyrdom of St Matthew” to the depiction of the youthful wine god “Bacchus”, the exhibition is intended as a “full sensory experience”, according to The Fake Factory, the video design company behind the project.
Visitors to the show can watch each painting broken down into the smallest detail, the performance accompanied by a specially composed soundtrack and smells from Florence’s historic Santa Maria Novella perfumery.  Studies of works like “Judith Beheading Holofernes” have revealed Caravaggio’s painstaking adjustments – in this case slightly moving the partly-severed head from the body – and the exhibition uses outline sketches to explore form.
“It’s a theatrical staging of his work”, the installation’s designer and the founder of the Florentine outfit Stefano Fake told AFP, saying the goal was to involve people “in a sort of collective rite by immersion in the art”.  The hope is tourists will feel as if they are present at the scenes depicted in the paintings, “becoming protagonists of the works”, and notice elements they would not have spotted by visiting a traditional exhibition.
Thanks to 33 high-definition projectors, the snakes in the artist’s “Medusa” appear to slither across the floor as the painting moves, the mythological monster’s horrified gaze amplified, her blood splattered widely across the walls. As well as playing on the main themes in the Milan-born painter’s works – light, theatricality, naturalism and violence – the exhibition, which runs until July 3, is “an almost-scientific experience”, said Claudio Strinati, art historian and consultant on the project.
Stefano Fake said the huge projections “are to help people discover Caravaggio, understand how he used characters, the way he used light, the way he painted.”
“You get to see details that you could not see with the naked eye, thanks to this technology.”
The show revels in rebellious Caravaggio – famous for having angered patrons with “vulgar” depictions of religious scenes, from painting saints with dirty legs to using prostitutes as muses – but celebrates his grace as well.  The aim had been to transform the neoclassical exhibition space in the Italian capital’s historic centre into a enormous, stark white canvas which would represent the light to the artist’s darkness, Fomasi said.  “We wanted to replicate the elegance that Caravaggio has, the elegance of his painting, in the elegance of the space, which is very white, very bright,“ he said.
After Rome, the “Caravaggio Experience” will travel to Naples, before heading to foreign exhibition halls next year. — AFP

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ROME: Art lovers are invited to immerse themselves in Italian painter Caravaggio’s scenes of pain and pleasure in an exhibition with a difference – there is not a single canvas on show. Video artists are projecting films of the fiery Baroque master’s renderings of Jesus being flogged, Roman wine god Bacchus and the severed head of the snake-haired Medusa on the walls of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni gallery.
Music and perfumes accompany the display of 57 pictures famed for a theatrical use of light and shadow that matched the drama of the artist’s life, which ended around age 38.
Art historian Claudio Strinati, who advised the creators of the exhibition, said taking the characters out of their original contexts completely changed the viewer’s experience.
“There is an appeal here,” Strinati said. “The images present themselves to us like apparitions, characters coming from a faraway world and arriving in our space.”
The “Caravaggio Experience” is starting shortly after the Victoria and Albert Museum in London also opened an exhibition that reinterprets the work of another Italian master, showing Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli’s works alongside versions by pre-Raphaelite and pop artists.
The technique of plucking certain characters from the original backgrounds used in the Caravaggio exhibition can also help art historians with their studies, Strinati said.
“Caravaggio is a painter of people, of characters. This enlargement of the characters … is like focusing with a big lens, isolating them from the works [in which] they are usually found.”
The artist’s roving existence and the years he spent as a fugitive – after killing a man in a brawl – are told using maps of Sicily and Malta, projected alongside the works he painted there.

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Caravaggio’s Art Displayed – Without The Canvas

Caravaggio’s art has been exhibited many times since his death in 1610 but a major gallery in Rome has launched a different type of display – there isn’t a single canvas on show.
The Fake Factory video artists have projected the 57 works – which include Jesus being flogged, a man being beheaded and
the severed head of snake-haired monster Medusa – onto the walls of the the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
They are accompanied by theatrical lighting, shadows, perfume and music.
The aim of the exhibition – called The Caravaggio Experience – is to allow visitors to immerse themselves in the Baroque master’s scenes of pain and pleasure.
Art historian Claudio Strinati acted as an adviser for the exhibition and said that taking the characters off the canvas gives the viewer a completely different experience.

He said: “The images present themselves to us like apparitions, characters coming from a faraway world and arriving in our space.
“Caravaggio is a painter of people, of characters.
“This enlargement of the characters… is like focusing with a big lens, isolating them from the works they are usually found in.”

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was only 39 when he died, after a life considered enigmatic and rebellious.
In 1606 he killed a man in a fight and fled from Rome with a price on his head.
He was involved in another fight in Malta in 1608 and yet another in Naples in 1609, a year before his death.

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Caravaggio’s violent triumphs go high-tech in Rome
24 Mar 2016

People attend the media preview of the “Caravaggio Experience” at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome on March 23, 2016
His depiction of Judith slitting Holofernes’s throat, blood gushing from the wound, has enthralled art lovers for centuries: now Caravaggio’s portrayal of seduction and betrayal can be “relived” at a high-tech exhibition in Rome.
Fifty-seven paintings by the 16th century artist are from Thursday magnified and projected onto walls inside the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, where 3D images explore their composition and the dramatic use of chiaroscuro, the contrast between light and dark.
From the “Martyrdom of St Matthew” to the depiction of the youthful wine god “Bacchus”, the exhibition is intended as a “full sensory experience”, according to The Fake Factory, the video design company behind the project.
Visitors to the show can watch each painting broken down into the smallest detail, the performance accompanied by a specially composed soundtrack and smells from Florence’s historic Santa Maria Novella perfumery.
Studies of works like “Judith Beheading Holofernes” have revealed Caravaggio’s painstaking adjustments — in this case slightly moving the partly-severed head from the body — and the exhibition uses outline sketches to explore form.
“It’s a theatrical staging of his work”, the installation’s designer and the founder of the Florentine outfit Stefano Fomasi told AFP, saying the goal was to involve people “in a sort of collective rite by immersion in the art”.
The hope is tourists will feel as if they are present at the scenes depicted in the paintings, “becoming protagonists of the works”, and notice elements they would not have spotted by visiting a traditional exhibition.
– ‘Snakes, blood and elegance’ –

People attend the media preview of the “Caravaggio Experience” at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome on March 23, 2016
Thanks to 33 high-definition projectors, the snakes in the artist’s “Medusa” appear to slither across the floor as the painting moves, the mythological monster’s horrified gaze amplified, her blood splattered widely across the walls.
As well as playing on the main themes in the Milan-born painter’s works — light, theatricality, naturalism and violence — the exhibition, which runs until July 3, is “an almost-scientific experience”, said Claudio Strinati, art historian and consultant on the project.
Fomasi said the huge projections “are to help people discover Caravaggio, understand how he used characters, the way he used light, the way he painted.”
“You get to see details that you could not see with the naked eye, thanks to this technology.”
The show revels in rebellious Caravaggio — famous for having angered patrons with “vulgar” depictions of religious scenes, from painting saints with dirty legs to using prostitutes as muses — but celebrates his grace as well.
The aim had been to transform the neoclassical exhibition space in the Italian capital’s historic centre into a enormous, stark white canvas which would represent the light to the artist’s darkness, Fomasi said.
“We wanted to replicate the elegance that Caravaggio has, the elegance of his painting, in the elegance of the space, which is very white, very bright,” he said.
After Rome, the “Caravaggio Experience” will travel to Naples, before heading to foreign exhibition halls next year.
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A Rome, une installation vidéo permet de «vivre» les tableaux du Caravage
Laure Brumont
Agence France-Presse
Rome

Se trouver aux côtés de «Judith décapitant Holopherne», assister au «Martyre de Saint Matthieu», converser avec «Bacchus»: la «Caravaggio Experience», une installation vidéo inédite qui débute ce jeudi 24 mars à Rome, nous fait entrer dans les tableaux du génie pictural du XVIe siècle.
Grâce à l’aide de 33 projecteurs haute définition, cinquante-sept tableaux de Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, dit le Caravage (1571-1610), sont reproduits en grand sur les murs du Palais des Expositions, qui accueille la «Caravaggio Experience» jusqu’au 3 juillet.
Réalisée par les vidéo-artistes de The Fake Factory, basée à Florence (centre), cette installation se veut une «expérience sensorielle totale», utilisant tant les images, que la musique et même le parfum, provenant des ateliers de la fameuse «Officine» florentine de Santa Maria Novella.
Pourquoi le Caravage ? «Parce qu’en Italie, il est un symbole», réplique Claudio Strinati, historien de l’art, «pour son élégance», renchérit le concepteur de l’installation, Stefano Fomasi.
Si on devait définir +Caravaggio Experience+, «je dirai que c’est une +installation-spectacle+, dans laquelle nous avons essayé de faire une mise en scène théâtrale de son oeuvre», explique à l’AFP le vidéo-artiste, fondateur de la Factory florentine.
Avec un objectif: que le public «participe à une sorte de rite collectif, par une immersion dans l’art, afin qu’il devienne protagoniste de l’oeuvre» et lui donne envie «de voir les tableaux en vrai».
Au son d’une musique composée à base d’instruments à cordes et de percussions, le visiteur, à qui il est conseillé de s’assoir et non de déambuler comme dans une exposition «classique» pour mieux profiter de l’expérience, se fait happer littéralement par les tableaux.
Ainsi, de sa «Méduse» sortent des milliers de serpents qui, glissant sur les murs et les sols, semblent étouffer le spectateur, avant que le sang qui ne coule de la tête ne remplisse la pièce.
Quant à la musique, «elle doit servir de cadre aux tableaux, pour suggérer les sensations éprouvées en les regardant», souligne le compositeur Stefano Saletti, qui confie s’être inspiré «des contrastes et du clair-obscur» sublimé par le Caravage.
– Théâtralité, lumière et violence –
«Les tricheurs», «David et Goliath», «Judith décapitant Holopherne», «Le joueur de luth», «Jeune saint Jean-Baptiste au bélier», «la vocation de saint Matthieu»… En cinquante minutes, tous ces tableaux se succèdent en une farandole de scènes, illustrant quatre des thèmes fondamentaux de la peinture caravagesque: l’usage de la lumière, le naturalisme, la théâtralité et la violence.
Les détails – visages, mains, instruments, armes – sont agrandis «et l’on peut ainsi voir ce qu’à l’oeil nu, dans un musée, on ne pourrait voir qu’au microscope», explique M. Strinati, qui évoque une «expérience quasi-scientifique».
Les compositions des oeuvres, que Caravage soignait particulièrement, sont expliquées à l’aide de palettes graphiques et de mannequins articulés en bois qui se superposent sur les tableaux.
Ainsi, celle, fameuse, du «Martyre de Saint Matthieu», que l’on peut admirer de visu dans l’église Saint-Louis-des-Français à Rome, apparaît sous un jour nouveau et atteste, s’il en était besoin, du génie du Caravage.
Une déception cependant: les parfums qu’inhale le visiteur ne correspondent en rien aux objets ou aux personnages des tableaux. Point d’odeur de pommes, de sueur, de crottin de cheval… comme on l’espérait en pénétrant dans l’installation.
Après Rome, «Caravaggio Experience» sera exposé à Naples cet automne avant de partir en tournée à l’étranger l’an prochain.

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Roma, (EFE).- Roma acoge desde hoy una muestra multimedia para proponer un viaje sensorial por las obras de Michelangelo Merisi “Caravaggio”, envueltas ahora por una atmósfera sugestiva que involucra a la vista, el oído y el olfato del visitante.
El “Palazzo delle Esposizioni” de la capital italiana albergará hasta el próximo 3 de julio la exposición “Caravaggio Experience”, que consiste en un repaso “inédito” a las obras del genio barroco mediante numerosas proyecciones en alta definición.
La muestra ofrece la posibilidad de observar y conocer de un modo novedoso y detallado las pinturas del artista y, en este proceso, juega un papel esencial la percepción sensorial de los visitantes.
Y es que el recorrido, además de fluir entre las proyecciones de sus célebres pinturas, está acompañado por una música intimista y enigmática, firmada por Stefano Saletti, y por los aromas de la Oficina del Perfume de la Farmacia de Santa María Novella.
La instalación ha sido diseñada por “The Fake Factory”, un estudio florentino especializado en vídeo arte, y por su creativo Stefano Fake quien aseguró que principalmente está destinada a los jóvenes por su carácter didáctico.
“Es una ‘exposición espectáculo’. Hemos estudiado, analizado y profundizado a Caravaggio y hemos identificado una serie de temas que bajo nuestro punto de vista eran muy importantes”, señaló Fake en declaraciones a los medios españoles.
Para retratar y acotar la figura y el estilo de este genio del Barroco, el realizar explicó que sus técnicas y sus obras “han sido colocadas como si fuera una puesta en escena, una obra teatral”.
De este modo, se proyectan cincuenta obras divididas en secciones que analizan minuciosamente los grandes temas de la producción artística de Caravaggio, como la iluminación, sus escenarios, la acción de sus cuadros, su temática o el estudio morfológico de sus personajes.
El recorrido arranca con el estudio de la luz, de su famoso claroscuro, una técnica con la que el artista revolucionó la iluminación en la pintura, otorgándola una función estructural, simbólica y del todo novedosa.
Para explicar la importancia de este elemento en su nómina se presenta, entre otras, una proyección de “La vocación de San Mateo” (1601), únicamente iluminada por un rayo lumínico que otorga a la escena un marcado dramatismo.
La muestra también abarca el ámbito naturalista del autor, proyectando sus numerosos bodegones y sus escenas cotidianas, protagonizadas por parroquianos de oscuras cantinas o jóvenes que deambulan por las recónditas calles de aquella Roma de los papas.
Pero el concepto que ocupa un mayor espacio en la muestra es el de la teatralidad, identificando los elementos que configuran la estructura de sus obras, desnudando sus lienzos de luz y color para dejar al descubierto sus formas primigenias.
Lo hace dividiendo sus lienzos en un plano tridimensional gracias al cual puede apreciarse la composición de los cuerpos de los personajes, el equilibrio entre ellos, la elección de la iluminación, sus formas geométricas y su profundidad.
También se aborda la acción y la violencia de aquella época, también de la controvertida vida de Caravaggio, así como los lugares en los que vivió, ya que recorrió de norte a sur la península itálica: nació en Milán, alcanzó su máximo apogeo en Roma y pasó sus últimos años en las urbes más meridionales de la Bota.
Para realizar esta exposición se ha consultado a uno de los grandes estudiosos y expertos sobre Caravaggio de Italia, el profesor Claudio Strinati, quien encomió el sentido “formativo” de la muestra y se mostró satisfecho por el resultado.
“Para una persona a la que le interesa el arte, es un buen método para introducirse en el conocimiento porque todo es explícitamente virtual (…) las imágenes son más grandes que los cuadros y pasan ante el ojo del espectador”, señaló a los medios españoles.
Para el experto, las nuevas tecnologías jugarán “un rol enorme”, definitivo, en el futuro de la historia del arte.
“Para la historia del arte las tecnologías modernas son definitivas. Va con la historia del hombre, el ser humano lo que quiere es ver mejor la realidad. Seguramente sea el objetivo supremo del hombre, ver mejor, el universo, su alma, el arte“, opinó.
Sea como fuere, la exposición multimedia recorre las luces y las sombras de una figura, la de Caravaggio, que en opinión de Strinati supone la quintaesencia del italiano actual: “pasional, culto, muy capaz y lleno de contradicciones en el modo de comportarse”.
“Representa la síntesis del carácter italiano y de su capacidad y, sobre todo, del amor por el arte. Caravaggio está vinculado al arte de un modo supremo porque todo lo que es, se ve en sus cuadros: su personalidad, su mundo y sus ideas”, concluyó el estudioso.
EFE
gsm/agf

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Prepare for a whole new kind of cultural experience: a Caravaggio exhibition in Rome that doesn’t feature a single canvas of the fiery Baroque master.
It features an innovative video installation combined with an original musical score and even fragrances. The aim is to engage visitors on a sensorial and immersive journey into the world of the 17th century painter.
“Usually, when you visit an exhibition, you see the paintings or the sculptures together with the information provided by the gallery, and that’s it. Instead, here, the aim is to stimulate visitors, the images are like apparitions, they’re like characters entering our space from a far away world,” says art historian Claudio Strinati.
Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio pioneered the Baroque painting technique known as chiaroscuro, the use of strong contrasts between light and dark.
Considered the greatest Italian painter of his time, he led a violent, chaotic life and died young at the age of 38.
“Caravaggio painted people, characters. This type of display allows us to focus on the characters, isolating them from the works they are usually associated with. This makes it possible for researchers and students of art history to focus on particular details that one wouldn’t always notice when looking at the original art work,” says Strinati.
Featuring a selection of 57 works, Caravaggio Experience runs at Rome’s Palazzo delle Esposizion until July 3rd.

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Ces créations vidéo monumentales, on les doit aux artistes-vidéastes du studio The Fake Factory, basé à Florence. Tout a été pensé pour que la visite se montre la plus immersive possible : images mouvantes, musique entêtante, et même diffusion de… parfums ! Tous les sens seront donc mis à contribution pour s’immerger dans l’Italie du XVIe siècle et l’univers unique du Caravage.

Le choix de cet artiste n’est pas surprenant pour inaugurer ce type d’exposition résolument moderne. En Italie, le Caravage est considéré comme un véritable symbole brillant par son élégance, sa touche unique et son style absolument inimitable. Une exposition qui peut paraître quelque peu théâtrale, voire spectaculaire pour un peintre dont le monde se voulait des plus précieux. Mais le but n’est pas de dérouter le spectateur, bien au contraire.

L’idée serait plutôt d’offrir une immersion dans l’Histoire de l’art, afin que tout un chacun puisse se sentir comme un protagoniste à part entière du tableau qu’il apprécie et dans lequel il plonge. Ainsi, le choix de la musique a été fait en adéquation avec l’époque : les compositions ont été réalisées avec des instruments à corde et à percussion, et leur rythme tente de créer une sorte de nouveau cadre au tableau. Dans le parcours, des cartels inviteront les visiteurs à s’assoir plutôt que déambuler comme cela se fait traditionnellement.
Au fil d’une animation de plusieurs minutes, les œuvres les plus célèbres de Caravage se succèdent dans une farandole musicale, sensorielle, organisées selon un ordre thématique : l’usage de la lumière, le naturalisme, la théâtralité et enfin la violence, ultime sujet qui a nourri ses compositions les plus frappantes comme David et Goliath ou encore Judith décapitant Holopherne.

Dans le même temps, des « focus » sous forme d’agrandissements se proposeront au regard du public. Mains, visages, instruments de musique, armes sont agrandis comme sous l’œilleton d’un microscope : une chance qu’on ne rencontre pas sous les cimaises d’un musée traditionnel. Une expérience profondément immersive donc, qui après Rome, déménagera à Naples avant de quitter sa terre natale ultérieurement, pour de nouveaux horizons européens.

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Museums are an Immersive Experience
by Michelle Chan, Exhibit & Program Coordinator
Have you ever been at an event, watched a movie, or played a sport and completely lost track of time and where you are because you are so focused on the one task at hand? If you have, you’ve been in an immersive experience. When I say “immersive experience” what I really mean is that whatever you are doing allows you to lose yourself in the moment. 
Museums and galleries can do this. 
    Whether it’s being surrounded by beautiful objects displayed in crystal-clear cases, walking through an historic house where people lived 100 years ago, or watching a video projection with speakers blasting loud audio from all sides, museums and galleries can often make you forget your everyday life. 
Part of the immersive experience is the sense of scale that you just can’t get from your computer, tablet, or phone.
An experience can also be immersive if a museum or gallery can engage all (or most) of your senses. Computers are limited to sight and sound; photographs are limited to just sight. The possibilities at a museum or gallery are endless. To lose yourself in a place, to see artefacts in context, to be surrounded by video and sound, or to walk through an underground mine is the value of museums. As a museum visitor, I find this more engaging and enjoyable than sitting on a chair and clicking through images on a website.