PRESS KIT MUDIA A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON ART OPENING OF A NEW TOURIST ATTRACTION, INNOVATIVE FUN AND CULTURE IN THE PROVINCE OF LUXEMBOURG SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 On September 10, 2018, MUDIA, a new tourist attraction, will open its doors in the Province of Luxembourg. As MUDIA houses over 300 works and takes a unique educational approach, its inauguration will prove to be one of the milestones of 2018, both on the Belgian scene and internationally. Initiated by a Belgian art lover and supported by contributions from Belgian and international private collections, MUDIA brings together numerous original masterpieces from the Renaissance to the contemporary era, by Veronese, Brueghel, Rodin, Spilliaert, Van Dongen, Wouters, Picasso, Modigliani, Giacometti, Magritte, Hergé, Franquin, Geluck and many more. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, comics, photographs, cinema and more all co- exist in a playful, digital and high-tech tour that invites the public to participate in its various stages, while learning, being entertained and understanding the universe of art and its evolution. The idea is to create a veritable spectacle based on art which is unique in Europe. MUDIA, a unique visitor experience In a space covering over 1,000 m2, with a total of twenty different galleries, MUDIA offers informed and unsuspecting visitors alike a global, playful vision of the history of art. MUDIA boasts over 300 original works, covering forty-six different art movements. Among them are many works by renowned artists, including, but not limited to: Felicien Rops Fernand Khnopff Léon Spilliaert Odilon Redon František Kupka Alphonse Mucha Gustav Klimt Auguste Rodin Émile Claus Rik Wouters Fernand Wery Kees Van Dongen Pablo Picasso Fernand Léger Amedeo Modigliani Paul Klee Oscar Jespers Gustave De Smet Alberto Giacometti René Magritte Paul Delvaux Raoul Ubac Jean Dubuffet Pierre Alechinsky Andy Warhol Marcel Broodthaers Pol Bury Hergé Franquin Philippe Geluck Katarzyna Górna Paolo Ventura ... What makes MUDIA stand out is its scenography. With an entirely unprecedented interactive method, MUDIA invites visitors to go back through history chronologically, alternating works of art with playful activities. At each stage, visitors' emotions and senses are called upon through numerous interactions with the masters, creating an intimate, emotional and poetic connection between the visitor and the pieces exhibited by MUDIA. In total, the visit is peppered with about sixty games; animated tables; funny, educational and riveting experiences; stupefying, surprising or amusing attractions; or fun and intuitive tests or videos. They take you on a journey through twenty galleries and seven centuries of art history, from the 15th to the 21st century. Set in a scenography coordinated by Belgian scenographer Christophe Gaeta, the attractions were conceived by the best Belgian studios, using the most innovative techniques. They take on various forms, such as quizzes, animated responses with surprises, reflex games, coloring, memory games, animated films, selfie spots, auditory or olfactory experiences, etc. This method was coordinated by Xavier Wielemans, among others. Wielemans has also developed interactive museum methods for theme parks and large Belgian museums, like the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Sciences and others. Quick tour of MUDIA by Director Karlin Berghmans Upon entering MUDIA, visitors are immediately immersed in the project's unique concept: making art educational and attractive. By moving from gallery to gallery, visitors flow from one art school to another, throughout history. Each stage counts four, large galleries, distributed over four stories. From the beginning of the tour trajectory, visitors can take in a virtual copy of the famous fresco of the three artists Masaccio, Masolino and Lippi, from the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. On the ground floor, the first gallery is dedicated to medieval Gothic art, the Flemish Primitives and the Renaissance. This gallery features an original piece by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, raising the question of copies. The second gallery is dedicated to Baroque sculpture. Here, visitors will find a series of priceless terra cotta pieces (dating from the second half of the 17th century), which can be seen from all angles by playing with buttons. The gallery also highlights Caravagism, with an original piece - The Penitent Magdalene - by the hand of the first female painter, Artemisia Gentileschi. This raises the question of the position of female artists. The third gallery immerses visitors in the Barok style, in still lifes and genre painting. Finally, the last gallery focuses on Rococo, Classicism and Neoclassicism, with several interactive activities, one of which is based on a painting by Jacques-Louis David, The Assassination of Marat, and involves climbing a ladder. On the first floor, the first gallery showcases Romanticism. With works by Antoine Wiertz and Théodore Chassériau. In the second room, you can discover works in the social realist style: Honoré Daumier (with a diorama composed of more than thirty small sculptures in ceramics by the artist), Constantin Meunier and Léopold Harzé. Precursors of impressionism and impressionistic painters are also represented. The third gallery immerses visitors in Symbolism, with works by Félicien Rops, Fernand Knopff, Léon Spilliaert, etc. Art Nouveau also gets its turn, with works by Alphonse Mucha, Armand Rassenfosse and Gustave Klimt… Another masterpiece: a ceiling installation of an original stained glass, signed Privat- Livemont. Visitors then pass on to a transition room, with an animated, interactive painting of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych portraying the temptation of St. Anthony. The last gallery features works by Post-Impressionists and works of the sculptor Rodin. On the landing leading to the second level, visitors will revel in a surprising coin machine. Next, the second story's first gallery is dedicated to the Pont-Aven School and Fauvism, with works by Rik Wouters (sculptures and paintings), Fernand Wery and Kees Van Dongen. The second gallery is devoted to Cubism, with a focus on the works of Pablo Picasso through the prism of his women, but also to the first School of Paris, with works by Amedeo Modigliani, encouraging visitors to question what is real and what is not in art. This gallery also features abstract art, with František Kupka, Paul Klee, Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, etc. The last gallery on the last level groups three movements: Expressionism, with Edvard Munch (Portrait of a Young Girl) and Gustave De Smet; Dadaism, with Man Ray, Francis Picabia and Max Ernst; and Surrealism, with Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, Paul Delvaux and Raoul Ubac. The tour then takes visitors back down to the basement, where they enter a large gallery containing numerous movements from 1920 to 1970, with (mostly Belgian) Art Deco, outsider art (Jean Dubuffet), the COBRA mouvement (Pierre Alechinsky), Tachisme (Henri Michaux), pop art (Andy Warhol), etc. The second gallery is dedicated to conceptual art, with Marcel Broodthaers, and kinetic art, with Pol Bury sculptures that can be set in motion. In the next gallery, the entertaining and educational animated film The River of the Arts is screened. Made especially for MUDIA, this film is projected continuously and takes about ten minutes to watch (see below). The second-to-last gallery immerses visitors in the universe of the European comic book and cartoon, with artists like Hergé, Franquin, Philippe Geluck, Albert Dubout, etc. MUDIA's final gallery is devoted to 20th century photography, with works by Paolo Ventura and Katarzyna Górna, as well as installations that present the work of Robert Doisneau and Lucien Clergue. Before mounting the stairs again, a small, final surprise awaits visitors: a photo booth that allows them to take their own picture in various artistic styles. After the picture is taken, MUDIA offers visitors a chance to relax at the gastropub- delicatessen or to buy a souvenir at the shop. In the trendy, cozy Mudia Café, several delicacies are available, amidst a grand library full of books about art - and other subjects – which visitors may browse through freely. If time allows, visitors will also be able to read while tasting a glass of wine selected by a talented Belgian sommelier, out on the large, natural stone patio, which offers a panoramic view of the Redu landscape. The architectural project MUDIA is located in an old, 19th-century vicarage in the middle of the village of Redu, which is already widely known as the village of books. Renovated for the first time twenty years ago, by private owners wishing to set up a soap factory there, the building went through a first transformation, with the addition of another building and faux rustic elements. The building is currently being renovated a second time -- entirely this time -- in order to transform the space into an exhibition space, balancing respect for the building itself and the museum's requirements. A local architectural firm, La Grange atelier d’architectures, was entrusted with this architectural project. La Grange atelier d’architectures is an architectural and interior design firm that was initially located at Daverdisse, 6 km from Redu, and recently moved offices to Libramont. With a team of 15 employees, the agency is active in various types of architecture. Its work is mainly focused on projects involving rural hostels, hotels, family homes or multi-residential buildings, for private