Basins of Light in Bordeaux

Last Thursday we went back to Bordeaux for the first time in a long time. We went to the Submarine Base beside the Garonne: this is an old bunker for submarines dating from WW2 (you can learn more about the bunker for submarines here) where a cultural centre for digital arts opened last year. These “Basins of Light” welcome exhibitions and artistic installations. Currently there is an exhibition entitled “Monet, Renoir … Chagall, Mediterranean Journeys” – this is what we wanted to see on our visit.

The building has an impressive feel with enormous halls of concrete and water. Works of art are projected onto the concrete walls and floors, and onto the water. The images are not static but constantly moving: parts of the images grow bigger or smaller. We found it absolutely fascinating, and its all accompanied by music. If you want to get an idea by watching a short video, you can do so here. I can only offer you some photos taken on my mobile phone, and so not very beautiful (you can enlarge them).

The presentation is repeated hourly and runs until 2nd January 2022. In the evenings there’s an exhibition of Gustav Klimt. At the entrance we had to show our “passe sanitaire” to prove we had been vaccinated against Covid. Masks were compulsory but most visitors did not wear them.

Barbara Jany (Cissac), translation: Margaret and Richard Beasley