The recently opened Gaîté Lyrique is not a museum, but rather a cultural institution. Set within a restored 19th-century theater near Paris' trendy Marais district, the space is devoted to exploring mixed-media and various digital art forms. Video games are highlighted as a new art form, and an entire floor serves as a resource center for further exploration and creative discovery. A rotating exhibition space breaks down boundaries between music, fashion, architecture, and new media.

Location and Contact Information:

Just a ten minute walk from the Centre Georges Pompidou, the converted theater is located between the heart of the Marais and the Grand Boulevards district.
Address:
3 bis, rue Papin
3rd arrondissement
Metro: Réaumur Sébastopol (lines 4 and 11)
Tel: +33 (0)1 53 01 51 51
Visit the official website

Opening Hours and Tickets:

The center is open Tuesday to Saturday, 2pm to 8pm, and Sunday 2pm to 6pm. Closed Mondays.
Tickets: Entry into the space is free. Check the website for select exhibition costs and a complete schedule of events, including concerts, performances, and workshops.

Sights and Attractions Nearby La Gaîté:

Musée Carnavalet
Musée des Arts et Métiers
The Beaubourg Neighborhood and the Centre Pompidou

First Impressions:

Entering beneath the large ceilings of the Gaîté, one is immediately transported into the current (and future) age of digital culture and art. Situated next to the entrance of the revolving exhibition space is "The Building," one of several "hypercubes".

The small aluminum enclosure is described as being an embodiment of the environment of the building, with its role being to stimulate and measure the senses. When you enter the cube, the computer within tells you what impression you have left on the building through a variety of questions and an electronic measuring of the sensations you have aroused, quickly setting the stage in the old theatre for "digital emotions."

Experience:

The second floor boasts both a resource center and an arcade space. Your inner child will want to check out the video games section first, where thematic weekly selections of yet-to-be-released video games are available for play via a controller, computer, or IPad. Sitting on a leather bench in front of a big-screen monitor as "Moon Grotto 7" began, an absorbing musical score and elaborate graphic layout almost made me forget that I was supposed to find the hidden cursed grotto and rescue the moon princess.

Outside the white-walled video testing room sits the resource center, which provides an excellent history of the evolution of mixed media and features tables for board games, computers set within both small rooms and hypercubes, and a collection of books, magazines, and comics highlighting digital art and technologies. All materials are free to use. As the adults battle over a weekly board game offering, young children can be fully occupied on the carpeted space next to them which is stocked with books and modern toys. The only difference is that kids have endless access to paper and crayons.

After expanding your intellectual horizons, head up to the second floor where several additional mind-teasers await. The grand space primarily features "Interference," five separate steel walls, almost lace-like in appearance, that create a setting for strategic play. You and your opponent play off of the remains of a previously fought competition to win a highly modernized version of Checkers. Children and adults will also enjoy "Ninja Shadow Warrior," a standalone photo booth arcade game where players must transform their bodies into the shapes of objects (a tree, an elephant, a vase, etc.) that flash on the screen.

Remnants of the Past:

After testing the limits of both your mental and motor skills, enjoy a drink or snack at one of the wooden tables located within the historic foyer. This is the only room in the theater that still retains the majority of its original decor. From large marble columns to delicately painted portraits set high into the walls, the space is a beautiful reminder of just how fast and dramatically things change. On the mantel piece sits "Horloge 2067," by David Guez. The arms of the clock move in tandem with yours as you stand in front of it, a further reminder that it's you who sets the time in the space you are in.