Other than being a pillar of international cinema, the famous Cinecittà studios of Rome now hosts a new museum dedicated to everything audiovisual, from cinema to videogames.
The new Italian Museum of Audiovisual and Cinema (Museo Italiano dell’Audiovisivo e del Cinema in Italian, or MIAC for short) has just been unveiled and will officially open to the public in December with the express purpose of helping everyone, both Italians and foreigners, “to rediscover and explore [the country’s] collective imagination,” as well as learning the century-long history of the seventh art - an art that has had some of its greatest moments in the Cinecittà studios.
And not just the seventh art, since the MIAC will also cover the history of television and video games as well as virtual and augmented reality. It’s a “powerful and evocative installation, which covers more than a century of cinema and sixty years of television in Italy, plunging visitors in an immersive exhibit capable of bringing back the creative spirit of the nation,” said Dario Franceschini, Italy’s Minister for Culture, at the MIAC’s official presentation at the end of October.
The museum has been set up in the old Development and Printing Labs - an area that covers more than 1600 square-metres divided into thematic areas and each area filled with hundreds of archival films, photos, music, interviews and interactive installations to “engage every one of the visitors’ senses”. The backbone of the museum will be made up by the Timeline, animated graffiti that will follow visitors telling them the history of the audiovisual world in Italy, and by the Conveyor Belt, which will carry visitors’ messages around the museum.
The MIAC area will also host a multimedia library, a projection room and conference spaces, as well as a conservation and restoration lab to make sure treasures of Italian cinemas are preserved so that everyone can continue to enjoy them.
If you’d like to know more about the MIAC, you can do so at Cinecittà’s official website here.
