On the occasion of World Creativity and Innovation Day, the ELYX MUSEUM, a virtual museum, is exceptionally opening its doors to visitors for 48 hours, before its official inauguration in a few weeks’ time to mark the tenth anniversary of Elyx’s engagement with the United Nations.
Using either a virtual reality headset, a smartphone or a computer, in that order of preference, you can take part in this unique experience. Thirty people can be present in the museum at any one time and can engage with one another during the visit.
“After more than a year of confinement and deprivation of cultural places, new experiences are emerging around digital practices. Virtual reality, which has been gradually democratized for a few years now, is experiencing exponential growth,” explains Yacine Aït Kaci, ELYX’s “father”.
The Museum is using technology from the company “Spatial”.
From sketchbook to augmented reality
The ELYX Museum tells the remarkable and inspiring story of the UN’s first digital ambassador. Created from a few simple strokes of a pen, Elyx is brought to life. It uses the universal language of its smile, body language and facial expressions to engage the public and advance crucial causes, such as the fight against climate change or against inequalities.
Born ten years ago, from the pen of its creator Yacine Aït Kaci, ELYX has escaped the sketchbooks to join a universe that is both real and virtual. Wherever it travels, it speaks of solidarity, empathy, protecting people and the planet.
In 2015, on the occasion of COP21, ELYX became the first virtual ambassador of the United Nations. An advocate of multilateralism, it accompanies the UN in its communication campaigns and offers numerous tools to understand and implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
An economy of the immaterial
ELYX was initially drawn on paper and then embedded into photographs. Gradually, as technological progressed, it took its first steps into reality before blossoming into a new world, another dimension.
“For almost 10 years, ELYX has been exploring the porous borders of a hybrid reality. From a notebook, it inserts himself into a photograph, then dives into it, before crossing the screen and inhabiting reality,” says Yacine Aït Kaci.
For this digital artist, new technologies are an integral part of tomorrow’s world, a world that pollutes less, consumes less and is more inclusive.
“This represents ten years of an artistic and technological journey. It is a commitment to the same idea: to gradually move towards a culture and an economy of the immaterial, for a zero impact on the environment.
Last January, the ELYX Foundation, under the aegis of the FACE Foundation, showcased a technological feat by organizing an augmented reality exhibition entitled “The National Assembly commits to the Sustainable Development Goals” on the gates of the Palais Bourbon.
All information on the visit of the ELYX MUSEUM is available here. (French only, just click the “visit” button)