Roger Tallon: Archives in Motion

This immersive experience highlights the work of the iconic French designer and invites the audience to explore his vast collection. In partnership with the museum, the EPFL+ECAL Lab has studied this complex world of drawings, sketches, images and texts to create an unprecedented custom-made virtual universe that successfully displays the actual structure of the physical archive.

In this virtual world, visitors immerse themselves in the heart of a library. The entire collection is then set in motion to enable them to understand its diversity, richness and how it echoes with current innovation.

Visitors may explore the material more in depth at any time by stopping on a specific project. The system fosters a new view of archive material — no longer a conventional method of consultation, but a discovery tool based on the user’s overall perception.

Building a virtual architecture to display a large physical database has become a design project in itself. This research allowed not only to enhance the heritage of the prolific French designer, but also to generate a system which can subsequently be applied to other collections, be they public or private. Treasures hitherto safely tucked away on shelves for preservation will thus be able to come back into the light in a new form.

Cooperation with the museum will continue in the coming months in order to further develop the installation according to the cognitive and emotional perception of the users.

This experimental installation by the EPFL+ECAL Lab is on show since October 19th, 2018, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.