MUSEUM
With the phenomenal success of the productions of creative industries, Art Ludique has become a bridge between contemporary art and the general public, a place where family members of all ages can enjoy figurative and narrative artworks and discover the astounding artistic dimension at the source of these artworks that make us all dream.
The Museum will host important temporary exhibitions throughout the year, showcasing influential figurative artists along with contemporary artists in comics, mangas, cinema, animation and videogames from across the world.
Visitors will be able to familiarise themselves with new digital technology used by today’s artists, and better understand the major artistic dimension required in making an animated film or videogame. Signing sessions, conferences, debates and master classes will also be organised regularly in the Museum so that fans, students and industry professionals can meet the greatest artists of Art Ludique.
About Diane & Jean-Jacques Launier
© Christopher Poulain
20 YEARS OF PASSION AND DETERMINATION TO PAY HOMAGE TO THE ARTISTS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT ARTS
Diane Launier : After starting as a ‘petit rat’ (young ballet student) at the Paris Opera at the age of eight, Diane Launier became editor-in-chief of a monthly French magazine in 2002. In 2020 she co-directed and produced a short documentary film « The Pharaoh’s Cats », which she filmed on the tiny island of Lamu off the coast of Sudan on which 20,000 cats, originally from Ancient Egypt, cohabit with the 20,000 inhabitants. The following year the film was selected by the Lift-Off Global Network for their festivals in New York and Tokyo, as well as the San Francisco Indie Short Festival.
Jean-Jacques Launier studied drawing in Paris before becoming an artistic director. He created ad campaigns and packaging for videogames, as well as French posters for films by Wim Wenders, Stephen Frears, Quentin Tarantino and others.
He wrote a novel, La Mémoire de l’âme, each page of which features a drawing by Mœbius(published by Anne Carrière-Stardom, 2001) and is also the co-author of the book « Art Ludique » (published by Sonatine, 2011).
Diane & Jean-Jacques Launier : Having always loved figurative-narrative art in 2003 they created, on the Île Saint Louis in the heart of Paris, the Arludik Gallery, the first gallery in the world dedicated to videogames, animated films, mangas, comics and movie design. Diane managed and ran the gallery, organising a new exhibition every month for fifteen years.
This unique exhibition space helped popularise a new style of artistic expression: Art Ludique – art from the entertainment industry.
With exhibitions from iconic artist like Moebius, Giger, Otomo, John Howe, Glen Keane, Diane and Jean-Jacques were also the first to show art from videogame artists and studios: Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider, Aleksi Briclot, Hideo Kojima…
In 2005, they organised the « Miyazaki-Moebius » exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris Museum, the first large-scale international exhibition of its kind, and a huge success.
In 2013, they founded the Arts Ludiques Museum in Paris, the first museum in the world dedicated to contemporary art from the creative industries, abolishing the barriers between videogames, animated films, movie design, mangas and comics. The museum had over 400,000 visitors in its first year with exhibitions including « Pixar – 25 years of animation », and « The Art of the Marvel Superheroes », one of the top 10 most-visited exhibitions in France that year.
In 2014, J.J. Launier was also nominated as the head of France’s commission overseeing grants for videogames for two years.
Diane and J.J. Launier were also pioneers when in 2015 they presented the first large-scale exhibition about « Art in Videogames – French Inspiration » which was a massive success and gained unexpected recognition from many French art critics and publications,includingBeaux-Arts Magazine which likened concept artfrom Studio Arkane to Géricault’s portraits of the insane!
The same year, in Paris, they conceived and presented the world premiere of the first large retrospective dedicated to the famous British studio: Studio Aardman, When Art Takes Form.
In 2016, Diane et Jean-Jacques created and presented The Art of Walt Disney Studios – Movement Through Naturea world premiere organised by the Arts Ludiques team in collaboration with the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, then in 2017 The Art of DC – The Dawn of the Superheroesin collaboration with Warner Studios and DC Comics.
In 2019, they created the exhibition The Artistic Saga of the Dragons Trilogy, first presented in Paris, followed by the Annecy Festival and Los Angeles, in collaboration with DreamWorks Animation Studio and Universal Pictures International France .
In 2020, they created an exhibition dedicated to 25 Years of DreamWorks Animation, presented in Paris in collaboration with DreamWorks Animation Studio and Universal Pictures International France.
Most of Arts Ludiques’ exhibitions have gone on tour and been shown in major museums around the world, starting in Paris and then being presented in Melbourne, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Groningen, Lodz…
After having headed the grants commission for videogame projects, J.J. Launier was awarded the title of ‘Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by the French Minister of Culture in 2016.
Since 2020, Diane and J.J. have also been giving lectures about ‘Art Ludique’ and the creative industry at the Institut national supérieur de l’éducation artistique et culturelle.
Diane and Jean-Jacques Launier are also the curators of the “Pinocchio by Guillermo Del Toro” exhibition, featuring authentic articulated sculptures and a previously unveiled selection of research drawings and paintings for the film. Created in collaboration with Netflix, the exhibition was presented in Paris from mid-October to mid-December 2022. In March 2023, the film won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
From June 2023 to January 2024, they will be presenting the exhibition “Following the rails of Tolkien and the mevieval imaginary world. Paintings and drawings of John Howe”, which they curated and wrote for the Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc in Landerneau. Conceived in close collaboration with the artist John Howe, the exhibition features the world premiere of nearly 300 drawings and paintings by the artist, as well as authentic pieces (tapestries, armor, sculptures) on loan from the Louvre, Invalides, Quimper, Cluny and Orsay museums.