The release of the film coincides with the museum’s third anniversary and will be available to stream for free on Louvre Abu Dhabi’s website.
Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced that it will be releasing its first short film The Pulse Of Time that explores the history of human creativity through artworks from the museum’s collection.
The 40-minute film takes viewers on an audiovisual journey through the 12 chapters of the museum’s galleries, highlighting a selection of 15 artworks and sharing stories of cultural connections from prehistory to contemporary times.
The Pulse of Time will premiere on YouTube on Wednesday, November 11, to coincide with the museum’s third anniversary. The short film will be available to stream for free on Louvre Abu Dhabi’s website the next day.
The work – directed by Mohamed Somji from Dubai creative studio Seeing Things – will be available in Arabic, English and French. The sound creation was commissioned and produced by Alexandre Plank, Radio Producer for the French National Radio channel France Culture. The script was developed by French author and playwright Stéphane Michaka and the original music score was done by French composer Jonathan Morali (Syd matters). Meanwhile, the direction and sound design was commissioned by Prix Italia winner Antoine Richard.
Commenting on the film, Manuel Rabate, director of Louvre Abu Dhabi said: “This immersive digital experience encapsulates the current moment as the museum reflects on its third anniversary. The film animates the galleries and objects on view, for an awakening of the imagination that audiences may experience from anywhere in the world.”
Rabate says the film marks a new era of original digital commissions alongside traditional physical exhibitions. He explains that the film’s “languages and collaborators represent the museum space itself as a crossroads for intercultural connection”.
The Pulse of Time invites viewers to experience a poetic narration of the stories of masterpieces from Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection and those on loan from international institutions.
Cultural commonalities can be discovered in a number of the museum’s treasures featured in the film, including the Italian sculpture of a man dressed in a Roman toga called The Orator (100-150) and the Bodhisattva (100-300), a sculpture created in an area that is today part of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Viewers of the film will also learn of the migration of artistic influence from West to East in the carvings of a basin inscribed with the name Bonifilius (circa 1300) from Northern Italy. Meanwhile, a 6,500 BC two-headed statute from Jordan’s Ain Ghazal, on loan from the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, allows audiences to see and reflect upon the way the region’s ancestors saw themselves.
At a later stage, Louvre Abu Dhabi will launch an audio tour adaptation of The Pulse of Time for visitors to explore at the museum, via the multimedia guide. The audio tour will be available in six languages, with the addition of Mandarin narrated by actress Lan Qiu, Russian narrated by actress Dinara Drukarova, and German narrated by actor Stefan Konarske.
