The charms of Provence are abundant, almost innumerable. And they always have common elements like some delicacy and a halo of elegance. They are often loaded with art and history, and the message they send is an invitation to enjoy pleasantly what life offers us. Well, the place of which we will speak next has all that and more. They are Les Carrières de Lumières, simply amazing.
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From quarry to film set
In the 19th century, the construction of buildings and infrastructures was booming due to the French industrial development. That caused that it was necessary to open numerous quarries. One of them was the current Carrières de Lumières, which provided a highly valued limestone rock, known as “southern stone”, typical of Provencal constructions.
However, its extraction costs and the emergence of new materials made that, once in XX; the exploitation of these quarries declined, and finally closed in 1935.
Internal aspect of quarries
That was the beginning of a new use. The quarry was going from a productive place to a contemplative space. The first step in this direction was given by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). An always innovative and multidisciplinary artist, who was inspired by Les Carrières de Lumières to set his autobiographical film “The Testament of Orpheus” of 1959. It was the first time that the quarries became a creative space.
A spectacular projection room
20 years after they inspired Cocteau, another artist came here: Joseph Svoboda (1920 – 2002), one of the most renowned and innovative set designers of the 20th century. It was 1977 and he was the one who conceived the great walls of the quarry as immense screens up to 14 meters high, imagining that this space would become the “Cathedral of Images”. Therefore, Les Carrières de Lumières (The Quarries of Lights) could not have a better ideologist than the Czech Joseph Svoboda, known as the “scenographer of light” for his attractive and revolutionary montages.
Jean Cocteau and Joseph Svoboda, pioneers in the use of these quarries as creative space
That was the germ for which four decades later we find this proposal of immersive art, in which the viewer is immersed in the projection that is done inside the quarry. An audiovisual show where the rock becomes a gigantic canvas of light that gives life to works of art.
The last shows of Las Carrières des Lumières
Since 2012, Culturespaces manages this place, a company that manages and places in value other places of the French heritage, always with quite novel interventions. Although perhaps few as potent as their concept of AMIEX, or what is the same: art and music immersion experience.
Spectators “immersed” in an audiovisual about Chagall
This idea proposes a search for sensations by the visitor, which is dwarfed in old quarries transformed into colossal screens with images of works of art in their walls, pillars or the very ground that the spectator treads.
It is easy to understand the idea of immersion, but it is difficult to imagine how we are going to feel being part of well-known paintings, since up to now the audiovisual have been played by great masters of painting.
Audiovisual starring Klimt and other Austrian painters of the early 20th century
It began with an audiovisual about Van Gogh and Gauguin, who lived in this area. In addition, later, in 2013, it was projected “Monet, Renoir, Chagall …Traveling to the Mediterranean“ thanks to which it sailed by the Mare Nostrum forming part of the pictures of these and other artists. Or in 2014, the show “Klimt and Vienna“ moved the spectators to the Viennese capital. While the following year it was possible to feel tiny watching the projection “Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael. Renaissance Giants“. Not to mention the last year projection, “Chagall. Dreams of a summer night“ inspired by the particular universe of the Russian painter.
Spectacular assembly of “Traveling to the Mediterranean”
Les Carrières de Lumières in 2017
This year we are waiting for a new audiovisual: “El Bosco, Brueghel, Arcimboldo. Fantastic and wonderful“. A show that began last March 4th and will continue until January 7th next year.
Anyone who knows the work of these three artists will know that the three enjoyed an overflowing fantasy that overturned in their canvases, often in the form of details, almost imperceptible to the human eye. Well, this project, designed as always by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto and Massimiliano Siccardi and the musician Luca Longobardi, proposes to review their works on a grand scale and integrate us into their creative delusions.
Current assembly in Les Carrières de Lumières
In addition, the 2017 program in Les Carrières de Lumières includes the possibility of seeing the short film “Georges Méliès, the film magician“, the great pioneer of celluloid art, whose extravagant images continue to be a source of inspiration and admiration a century later.
And if that were not enough, there will be concrete days in which the audiovisuals of previous years will be projected. To know the specific days of these “integral” sessions, it is best to consult the Web site, where information is also available on the entire facility, its schedules and its rates.
Projection of Georges Méliès, the magician of the cinema
How to get there
We hope that you are looking forward to visit Les Carrières de Lumières. From Horse, we assure you that they are impressive and inspiring. So to put the address on your GPS, we will tell you that they are in the town of Les Baux-de-Provence, located in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône.
The Giants of Arcimboldo, by Philip Haas
A very small town but full of Provencal charm, where you must also visit its Château de Baux. A place full of history and this year also of contemporary art, since there are exhibited the four giant replicas of the Four Seasons of Arcimboldo made in fiberglass by the artist and filmmaker Philip Haas. Without a doubt, a splendid addition to the visit to Les Carrières de Lumières.
