lililillilil is a designer and producer of immersive exhibitions, including some of the world’s best-known travelling experiences. For instance, Imagine Picasso, Imagine Van Gogh, Imagine Monet and more.
Founded in 2017 by Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, the company conceives creative and design-focused exhibitions that tear down barriers between viewers and art and introduce new methods of interacting with artworks. These immersive productions communicate stories by releasing the emotion in the pieces, which are projected authentically.
Mauger and Baron speak to blooloop about the company’s inception. As pioneers in the immersive field, they explain what makes a truly engaging experience and how their approach democratises access to art.
Cathédrale d’Images
While lililillilil was founded in 2017, the story goes back to 2000 when Mauger arrived at Cathédrale d’Images. In 2008, she directed her first exhibition there with Baron’s technical support. This iconic immersive venue in Provence, France, was the world’s first venue dedicated to immersive art. It was founded by Albert Plécy and opened in 1977.
Plécy’s vision was to create a more profound experience for the viewer by freeing the image from its frame. This led to a concept he coined Image Totale. Housed in a dramatic limestone quarry, Cathédrale d’Images began projecting large-format images on the walls to immerse visitors in a universe of images, with total freedom to wander and explore their surroundings. Cathédrale d’Images is now operated by another company and was renamed Carrières de Lumières in 2012.
In 2008, Mauger directed the world’s first immersive exhibition, hosted by Cathédrale d’Images and dedicated to Van Gogh. The exhibition was produced in a record 13 days and ran from February 2008 to January 2009. It was a huge success.
Having worked together since 2005, Mauger and Baron’s complementary nature and shared experience at Cathédrale d’Images led them to establish their own creative studio in 2017.
“We created lililillilil with a strong desire: to offer visitors a democratic approach to art,” explains Mauger. “Our complementary skills enable us to combine a powerful and consistent artistic approach with an optimised and innovative technical approach.”
On what makes lililillilil unique, she adds:
“We offer authentic designs through our Imagine immersive exhibitions. We conceive each scenography in coherence with the exhibition topic to provide visitors with a unique and groundbreaking experience.
“Our exhibits combine both educational and entertaining content. Before designing each immersive space, we commit to offering a “discovery room” with explanatory panels, complementary activities, and fun workshops. This provides visitors with scientific knowledge on the exhibition topic while improving their overall experience.”
The history of lililillilil
The creation of Cathédrale d’Images’s Van Gogh exhibition in 2008 was a pivotal moment. Following its success, Bruce Peterson of Grande Experiences and Tom Zaller of Imagine Exhibitions approached Mauger to export Cathédrale d’Image’s Van Gogh exhibition to Singapore’s Art Science Museum and make it tour. A few years later, Imagine Van Gogh was, in collaboration with Encore Productions, also presented at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris, where it proved very popular.
In 2019, lililillilil collaborated with the Picasso Administration, the art historian Androula Michael and the renowned architect Rudy Ricciotti to create the Imagine Picasso immersive exhibition.
“This was a significant experience for us for two reasons,” says Mauger. “Firstly, we were working with Rudy Ricciotti, one of the three architects of the Louvre in Paris. We were also working with a renowned art historian. This link was key because we were working to make the first big bridge between immersive experiences and art history. Collaborating with such brilliant personalities was an honour, breaking traditional codes of immersive exhibitions and creating new perspectives on oblique surfaces.
“We are the only directors with permission to tour with an immersive exhibition on this painter. The premiere of this show was in Lyon, our city. It was the first time an exhibition of that kind had a ceiling less than 4 meters high.”
Then, between 2020 and 2021, the Canadian tours of the shows Imagine Van Gogh, Imagine Monet and Imagine Picasso, produced by Encore Productions, marked the intensification of Mauger and Baron’s work as directors.
The company also initiated the first collaboration between an immersive exhibition and a museum in Stockholm, with the Artipelag Museum. Here, it presented Imagine Monet in 2023 and will renew the partnership this summer, presenting Imagine Van Gogh.
In February 2024, lililillilil, in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Culture, also presented the first immersive exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Mauger, Baron and their team are preparing to return to Saudi Arabia for the summer of 2024.
lililillilil also positions itself as a producer of immersive exhibitions. It succeeded this year with Imagine Monet at Tacoma Arts Live in Washington, US.
A growing and changing industry
Having been involved in immersive exhibitions since the beginning, Mauger and Baron are well-placed to comment on emerging changes, trends, and challenges. More and more companies are entering the immersive field—so many that the Cannes Film Festival created a category for immersive experiences in 2024. With this growth, many new experiences have emerged as new players have jumped on the trend.
This presents new challenges for lililillilil as it works to maintain the reputation of the immersive experience in the face of pale imitations.
“We need to constantly maintain the quality of our exhibits to leave our visitors with positive memories,” says Baron. “We also try to be as reactive as possible regarding installations and create ever-more innovative solutions to surpass ourselves. As pioneers, we started with 20th-century solutions but are committed to keeping up with the latest trends and technologies.”
There are positives too, however:
“Previously, we had to explain the concept every time we wanted to sell a show. No one knew what an immersive exhibition was,” says Mauger. “But now everyone understands, and there is more demand.”
Immersive experiences in museums
This awareness has meant that traditional museums are now looking at adding immersive experiences too, she adds:
“Because of our professional experience and work with art historians, we are the only immersive company that goes into museums. This is why we’re doing this job; we always considered an immersive exhibition an open door to return to the museum. When you’re doing a Monet experience or a Van Gogh experience, it’s a democratic way to engage the public, people who might not usually go into museums, and perhaps encourage them to visit.”
“Sometimes, when we participate in an exhibition opening, and we hear visitors saying, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful. We should go to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam because I want to see the real paintings,’ then we feel that we achieved what we wanted to do,” says Baron.
“For us, it’s important to deliver quality in the storytelling and to show the artworks as close as possible to the original.”
Authentic content is key
When it comes to some of the key trends that the pair are seeing emerge in the immersive experiences industry at the moment and how lililillilil is staying ahead of the curve, they say that the creation of authentic, immersive content is essential, as is flexibility when working with new venues:
“We have worked together for almost 20 years. So, we have an outstanding collaboration, and we know the work inside out,” says Baron. “That means that we can quickly respond to any requests about having our show in place and adapt to the venue.
“The first priority is narrative and storytelling; then we’ll try to find the best technical solution.”
“Even though the company is growing, Julien and I know all the roles. We know how everything works because we started by doing everything ourselves,” adds Mauger. “We know all the facets, meaning we can direct everything and tailor our approach. That is rare in this industry.”
“We can be more reactive, we can respond quickly, and deal better with the project,” says Baron.
Drawing on their significant industry experience to comment on what makes a truly impactful and memorable immersive experience, the pair say that engaging all the senses is essential:
“We aim to plunge the spectator into a daydream, then keep them immersed in it.”
lililillilil and the importance of storytelling
On the importance of storytelling in lililillilil’s work and how it helps the company to engage audiences, Baron and Mauger explain that one of the most essential things in their profession is knowing how to guide the visitor’s attention.
“That’s why we strive to optimise the storytelling in our exhibits so that, without even noticing it, guests are drawn into the story we’re trying to tell them,” says Mauger. “When we create a new immersive exhibition, we always ask ourselves why we’re creating it in an immersive way. We try to answer the following question: how does the immersive nature add value to the chosen topic?”
The team also designs the experiences to engage different levels of visitors, from the casual viewer to the art lover:
“It’s not just about creating something people can post on their Instagram account,” says Baron. “We try to have an excellent scientific background. That means we can deliver emotion based on the painter’s intent when he was painting each piece of work. So, in the end, people will understand a bit more about the artist.
“For instance, Van Gogh was in Provence trying to escape his mental health problems. That’s something that will touch people. It’s not just about watching projections of his sunflowers or starry nights. With our immersive experiences, we want to reach young people, families, art lovers and novices alike. We want to speak to different guests and open a window into the painters’ worlds.”
State-of-the-art technology supports the delivery of this vision. Yet the technology must remain in a supporting role, enhancing the experience while not pulling focus.
“We work with state-of-the-art technology, says Baron. “But we always ensure that this technology takes a back seat to the projected content. We always want the technology to be invisible, even though sometimes we have more than 80 projectors to set up to display the exhibition properly. It’s important to do it so that people are immersed, not in a technical environment, but in the emotions of the artist and their work.”
What’s next for lililillilil?
Looking ahead, Mauger explains that lililillilil has just unveiled its brand-new immersive exhibition, Imagine Paris:
“This is the very first immersive show about the City of Light.”
Imagine Paris is the original immersive installation that takes visitors on a Parisian promenade. This artistic experience explores the French capital’s most famous landmarks and their architecture and art based on extensive historical research.
The experience takes visitors around Paris’s most famous sights. This includes Notre-Dame de Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides, Montmartre, and the most famous museums. It is built around two areas suitable for all audiences: the immersive space, where visitors are plunged into a world of images, and the discovery room with history, culture, and anecdotes. Complementary activities and playful workshops enhance the visitor’s experience. The art experience is available for booking from 2024 onwards.
lililillilil can set up Imagine Paris, as well as its other immersive exhibitions, in three different ways: tailor-made, turnkey or media bundle. The company’s immersive exhibitions feature 360° + floor laser projections and are inclusive and accessible to all.
Baron adds that the firm is continuing to innovate:
“We also conceived a groundbreaking solution that adapts to any location and situation to make immersive art more accessible. This cost-effective and turnkey service includes set-up in 48 hours and dismantling in 24 hours while maintaining spectacular and entertaining results for visitors.
“Many venues only have short availability periods. So, if your installation and teardown is six to seven days, that has a huge impact. We wanted to find a solution that would be able to fill these kinds of gaps in time. And now we’re delighted to be able to respond to these kinds of demands.
“We have 20 years of experience, but we are still trying to imagine the next move, both on the storytelling and technical aspects, to deliver a full package to our partners.”
Top image Imagine Monet © Kevin Buy, 2023
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