[VIDEO] Perpignan: an exhibition combining magic, poetry and virtual reality at the Walter Benjamin Contemporary Art Center

We could mention almost all the cultural organizations of the city of Perpignan on this project. Its initiative comes from the Théâtre de l’Archipel which, as part of its Today music festival, has moved to the contemporary art center, just to make it easier. The others – Jean-Vigo Institute, International Center for Photojournalism, Rigaud Museum, etc. – have contributed in synergy to its design and continue to bring groups of visitors there. Pooling of skills, sharing of contact networks… mean that since its inauguration on October 28, the Mirages et Miracles exhibition has already welcomed 2,500 visitors.

On the one hundred square meter plateau on the first floor of the Walter Benjamin center, place du Pont d’En Vestit, the visitor is plunged into darkness as soon as he arrives. The more it evolves, the more the decor darkens. An immersion signed Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot, a duo of well-known artists from the Archipelago scene who returns with this double-reading exhibition. At the start, digital tablet in hand, we discover that from dotted drawings a myriad of sparks can escape, or columns of rain whose movement evolves according to the positioning of the visitor. Very quickly, the path is strewn with small pebbles like we all picked up while walking on the beach or by the lakes. Pretty stones with designs that give free rein to the imagination. So much so that the artists made the deliberate choice not to display the names they gave to each of their works. In the desire not to lock the viewer into their vision of the world. The surprise this time comes with small characters who wander between the installations. In this assembly between real and virtual, it is Claire the creator and Adrien the computer programmer, also a juggler. The artistic couple plays on lightness to titillate the neurons, awaken our memories and summon the sensations of childhood.

From Mirage to Miracle therefore, the journey continues with a surprise called “Pepper Ghost” – two in reality. Where a physical process of rather simple appearance, based on reflections of light on a glass stone, without digital intervention, pulls the spectator into a world of reverie. Then discover, thanks to virtual helmets, the pleasure of dancing or plunging your hands into balls of light that you knead or explode in geysers. Smiles can be read on the lips of visitors who forget everything that happens outside this dreamlike universe. At the far end of the room, a sky in relief lit up with shooting stars, under which you can lie down, is a direct invitation to meditation. The best proof that you have to go see it: many children who come to school come back with their families.