The watersheds of Bordeaux’s 78-year-old submarine base are set for transformation into immersive art galleries, as the WWII bunker re-open as the Les Bassins de Lumières centre for digital art.
The structure was first operational between 1941 and 1943, used by the Germans to house U-boats. The converted bunker has already hosted temporary shows and concerts, but now four of its sheds will become permanent exhibition spaces.
Following the building’s adaptive reuse, pieces will be projected across its vast stretches of water and concrete – with each watershed measures 100 metres long, is 22 metres wide and soars to 12 metres high.
Organisation Culturespaces, which is overseeing the transformation, says Les Bassins de Lumières will be the biggest digital art centre in the world. The company has already organised immersive takes on the work of Klimt and Van Gogh. It plans a similar focus in Bordeaux and will use a hundred video projectors to bring pieces by iconic artists to life.
The centre opens early next year, and although exhibitions haven’t been announced yet, Culturespaces promises ‘a very big name and a very beautiful projection’ as its first show.
