Creating digital works for world-class art exhibition

For several years we have worked with Art for Guernsey, founded by art collector David Ummels. Each year they have invited at least one artist to Guernsey to get inspired and produce a body of work. This has resulted in some amazing works from world-class artists. It’s a welcome return to working in the art market for us, after many years travelling the world to film artists, collectors and gallery owners and attend the major art fairs.
One of Art for Guernsey’s achievements has been the purchase (through a syndicate of art lovers) of one of the paintings French Impressionist Renoir produced during his month-long stay on the island. Only five of the 15 he painted in Guernsey sit in private hands.
To display the painting Art for Guernsey created a trailblazing and digitally immersive exhibition to create an opportunity for islanders to see the artwork and learn more about Renoir’s time on the island and its impact on his career.
We produced a number of the digital assets to be used in the exhibition. Visitors were greeted by a huge screen as they entered the gallery. On this played videos that gave information and context to Renoir’s work. The video below shows French Impressionist expert Cyrille Sciama, a world authority on Renoir, shining a light on the key role Guernsey played in inspiring Renoir’s career. Producing this was challenging as we had to film at the Musée des Impressionnismes next to Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny, which required working with a crew on the ground instead of travelling.
One of the other films we created was a silent montage which was designed to give an easy-to-digest list of facts about Renoir, in bitesize chunks. This required a fair amount of research and step-by-step fine tuning so that the end result was very simple to view.
The final part of our work was potentially the most exciting. We created a 3D virtual tour of the show, so whilst the exhibition was on for less than a week, we have given it life beyond its physical incarnation. The virtual reality show means anyone can revisit it and see it as it was, including watching all the virtual reality exhibits.