The large collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris have been available to everyone’s imagination since last week: the Foundation launched a free online game. It offers to discover and enjoy the furniture of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. A lever to spark a wider audience’s interest in the history of patterns and trends.
The principle of the game, available in several levels of difficulty (the simplest one is reserved for more than 11 years), is to place a whole bunch of objects in periods ranging from medieval times to contemporary times (chandeliers, hourglasses, pedestal tables, desks, etc.) accompany each Including explanatory sheets, the façade allows you to drag and arrange them according to the desire for the corresponding decor. Fabian Escalona, in charge of the museum site and project coordinator, has a favorite: the free-swimming mode which, all aesthetic rules and chronology principles banned, allows for example to install a 1960s Paul armchair in the Louis XIII living room or to arrange candelabra from the Rococo era in the middle Living room in a modern style. “We can really liberate our imaginations, unleash the minds of our interior designer. At the same time, it makes us think about the history of tastes, we can see how things have evolved through their shapes and materials used,” He clarifies.
Openness to new audiences
Under the impetus of Fabien Escalona, the digital project sprang up shortly before the first confinement. Olivier Japet, Director of the Foundation: The initial idea was to provide an extension of the visitor visits. With the power of restrictions, we came to view it as a solution to our closure but also as a gateway to our collections and the mission our museum did, namely, re-tracing and explaining the history and history of the design. Craftsmen. ” An opportunity for the Foundation, he says, to highlight these arts that have fallen into the circle of openness and openness to new audiences: Perhaps the culture of architectural direction and decorative flair spread again. “Through this simple and stimulating game, the fruit of the work that has been done with all the museum curators, we can use this tremendous tool, which is the video game, to raise awareness of these arts.”
The Museum of Decorative Arts is also examining the possibilities of making its game available to universities so that it can be used in the classroom. “It is also a way to attract students’ attention to crafts and crafts, to teach about these professions that are the driving forces of creativity,” Olivier Japt confirms.
To play here: https://histoiredesstyles.madparis.fr
