Carceri d’Invenzione di G-Battista Piranesi
Architetto Veneziano 

Animation Film 2010

A virtual animation of the 16 etchings from the Imaginary Prisons (Carceri d’invenzione) by Giambattista Piranesi, 2010. The work was produced and created by artist Grégoire Dupond For Factum Arte and Fondazione Giorgio Cini.
This series of 16 visionary images, originally etched by Piranesi when in his late 20’s, shows the workings of his imagination, merging his architectural ambitions with his obsessive interest in antiquity.
The 12 minute animation of Piranesi’s Carceri d’Invenzione series was created for and shown in an exhibition by Fondazione CiniFactum Arte and Michele de Lucchi who designed a wood projection tower (image credit aMDL) to show the film. 
Working from the second state of each print, a complex 3D environment has been assembled creating the sensation that you are walking into and around these contradictory and visionary spaces. The Carceri are the ‘prisons of Piranesi’s imagination’.
“Watching Grégoire Dupond’s animation is literally like entering Piranesi’s mind.” 
Grégoire Dupond thanks Factum Arte for the influence and support.

To watch Imaginary Prisons, Piranesi’s chilling cycle of etchings, transformed into a three-dimensional film is to enter a Wagnerian nightmare remade by Polanski.
Rachel Spence, Financial Times

There is no doubt that the author of this film, Grégoire Dupond of Factum Arte, has himself contributed a work of art to the mix of this exhibition.
Anna Sommers Cock, The Art Newspaper

The animation was shown at the following exhibitions or events:
2020 – Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia, Italy, exhibition Oct 2020 Jan 2021 – delayed, online only
2020 – For the Love of the Master, 25 artists fascinated by Piranesi, Dublin, May-Oct 2020 – delayed
2020 – TIAAF Art-house Cinecitta, Tilburg, April 18th 2020, festival
2019 – Kunsthal, Rotterdam, exhibition
2019 – Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, exhibition, press
2017 – Palazzo Belloni, Bologna
2016 – Pushkin Museum, Moscow, exhibition(Russian), (English), press
2015 – Musée Des Beaux-Arts de Chambéry
2014 – Sir John Soane´s Museum, London
2014 – V&A, Architects as Artists, London
2014 – LWL-Industriemuseum, Dortmund
2013 – Museum of Art, San Diego
2012 – Caixaforum Barcelona
2012 – CaixaForum Madrid
2012 – Center for Philosophy, Tokyo University
2010 – Fondazione Cini, Isola di San Giorgio, Venezia, exhibition

The work can be licensed for public presentations and display (exhibitions, festivals etc) as well as film and TV.

Press

Related:
Piranesi Carceri d’Invenzione 3D animation 2020
Piranesi Carceri d’Invenzione Virtual Reality 2017