Culture

Culture

Prehistoric Planet at Fabrique des Lumières: Digital dinosaurs and immersive art

Fabrique des Lumières is showing the immersive exhibition Prehistoric Planet. Ancient dinosaurs are brought to life digitally with beautiful projections and music. Visitors take a trip back in time and experience prehistory with images and sound. It is a special combination of art, history and modern technology.

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Fabrique des Lumières sits in the old Purification Hall of the Westergasfabriek: a raw, high industrial space that seems made for grand projections. With Prehistoric Planet: Dinosaurs, that hall becomes one gigantic screen. You don't walk past a row of signs, but through landscapes where dinosaurs move around you - from dense jungle to open plains and deep blue sea.

The power is in how close it feels. Because of the 360° projections on walls and floor, you don't get a "watching a movie" experience, but a "being there" experience. This works especially well with species you normally only know from pictures: you only really see what "gigantic" means when a neck above your head slides through the image and the sound breathes along with it.

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The show is also cleverly constructed for different ages. Kids have plenty of action and recognizable "wow" moments, while adults linger on details: skin textures, lighting, the way environment and animal move together. You don't have to know anything about dinosaurs to like it; it's an experience rather than a lesson, with enough context to make it not just "picture looking."

You come in for the dinosaurs, but you stick around because for a moment your brain believes it's real.

Practically speaking, it's nice that Fabrique des Lumières usually works in time slots and that the dino-show sticks around an hour - long enough to get into it, short enough to stay relaxed even with kids. And because the hall is kept dark, the projections really pop: fewer distractions, more focus on the image and soundscape.

When in doubt between "museum" and "outing": Prehistoric Planet is clearly a museum-quality outing. Ideal for a free afternoon, a rainproof weekend plan, or if you want to bring someone along who normally doesn't warm to exhibits - this is more "experience" than "exhibit."


CONTACT
Fabrique des Lumières
Westergasfabriek 1, Amsterdam
-. February 12 to April 24
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Westergasfabriek 1, Amsterdam
February 12 to April 24
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