There is something to say about being immersed in art. That’s what happened to us this morning when we visted the Lume in Southbank.
The Lume is Australia’s only electronic art gallery. It’s an enormous space where images are projected onto the walls and suspended screens in a wonderful display of action and colour. We had previously been there to see an exhibition of paintings by the impressionists and this current one features the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci (and some other famous renaissance artists).
As you step into The Lume, the sheer scale of the place is overwhelming. Hidden projectors blast a seemingly infinite set of images across the white carpet and up the 11m walls of this enormous space. The Lume uses 143 high-definition, high-powered projectors. It has 65 kilometres of electrical and data cabling, and the floors plus the walls equal a total of 4400 square metres of projection surface.
The best way to view these enormous images is to stand, or sit along the wall and watch the diplays as they appear. There are inflatable couches on which you can lie back and enjoy the spectacle around you.
On the mezzanine floor, there are models of Leonardo’s inventions – a parachute, helicopter, giant crossbow and flying machine amongst many others. Remember that this genius inventor, artist, mathematician and engineer lived from 1452 until 1519, so these inventions were well ahead of his time. Leonardo was born out of wedlock and being illegitimate he was denied an education and was excluded from the most lucrative occupations. Somehow, he learned about many things for which he became famous.
Some of the other works on display were by other Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Botticelli and Raphael.
We stayed until the show looped around to the images that we saw when we first entered and then it was time to leave through the gift shop, of course.
This was a stunning place to visit with a very nice lunch at the RACV Club finishing off our morning.
