Home Page

Cités-Cinés

Paris, Ghent, Montreal, 1987-90

The portrayal of towns in fiction films
Many a cinema-lover will nostalgically recall this exhibition. It marked a change in the approach to scenography.
It was the first time that an exhibition of this size was made into a show, swallowing up the audience into a world at the frontiers of fiction beyond the screen. Amidst sets from over twenty major films assembled like a town, 17 cinema halls opened one onto another, propelling the spectator into the producers' imagination. Griffith, Fritz Lang, Rossellini, Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, Terry Gilliam and many more shared their visions of towns with the public.
This exhibition used the infrared head set as an all time first, opening up new perspectives widely exploited ever since for incorporating audio-visual technology into scenography.

 
type of achievement  Travelling exhibition
client  Ministry of Culture
production  Grande Halle de la Villette
location  1987-89 Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France
1989 Halle des Floralies, Ghent, Belgium
1989-90 Palais de la Civilisation, Montreal, Canada
attendance  1 300 000 visitors
floor space  between 5 000m2 and 10 000m2
budget 
for scenography 
€4 million
 
 PROJECT DETAILS

The antrance hall of mirrors