We mainly understand the concept of the image from a conformist and strict perspective, limited by space and volume. This is the classic notion of the image which permeates our screens (television, computer, cinematic or simple projection). In all of these forms the viewer remains passive.

During the 1960s, the filmmaker and photographer Albert Plécy, a friend of the great Jean Lartique and Robert Doisneau (himself founding president of the famous association Les Gens d’images), had the idea of directing his research toward inventing a revolutionary process of projection.

In the mid-1970s, Albert Plécy invested in the gigantic abandoned quarries of Baux-de-Provence to create his Cathédrale d’images and two years later inaugurated his own audiovisual creation in Image Totale©. The culmination of two years of research, development and installation, Plécy’s Image Totale© was presented to the public in 1977.

The complete immersion of spectators in the work is reinforced by the synchronized diffusion of an accompanying musical soundtrack. 

Having selected the zones, angles and sizes of the projected images, as well as pathways for the “integrated and immersed” spectator in the Image Totale©, Plécy transformed the notion of a passive viewer, seated in an armchair staring at images on a screen, to that of an active spectator, immersed in a universe of images where they are completely free to evolve and explore in their own way.