Abandoned for years, the refurbished Gaîté Lyrique theater in Paris has opened its doors as a museum and digital arts center, reports Mon Figaro.
"Digital culture is a major phenomenon that is having a huge impact on creativity and the day-to-day life of our society,” explains museum director Jérôme Delormas. “The Gaîté Lyrique is going to observe this digital revolution, focusing on the human dimension rather than the gadgetry as has often been the case in the past."
The 9,500-square-meter museum features a video games area, an auditorium, a film studio and three multimedia rooms, and the on-site cafe includes nine projectors.
"Our natural audience is 15 to 35 year olds, but we don’t want to be intimidating for others,” noted Delormas. “The idea is that, for once, it will be young people dragging their parents to a museum!"
The theater originally opened in 1862, and survived as a performance space through many transformations, serving as an opera house, a playhouse and even a circus school – until closing its doors in 1989. After ten years of planning and development, the new digital center has finally opened to the public with an inaugural series of special installations.