TB-IGP|AE PREMIERE
The premiere of the Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Immersive Art Experience (TB-IGP|AE), will take place at the World AI Cannes Festival (WAICF) at the prestigious Palais des Festivals in Cannes from February 13 to 15th, 2025.
PREMIERE
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TOWER OF BABEL BY PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER
IMMERSIVE ART EXPERIENCE (TB-IGP|AE)
The images on this page are extracted from the immersive experience TB-IGP|AE, created by Franz Fischnaller. All rights are reserved.
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TB-IGP|AE BRIEF
TB-IGP|AE is a 4K/3D immersive Gigapixel art experience inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s iconic masterpiece, the Tower of Babel. A oil painting, created on oak wood in 1563, measures 114 × 155 cm and has a thickness of 3.8 cm. It is currently housed in the Gemäldegalerie at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. This piece is the most widely recognized depiction of the Tower of Babel. In this artwork, Bruegel interprets the mythological story of the Tower of Babel, as described in Genesis 11:1-9, the first religious text of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
TB-IGP|AE utilizes a high-resolution photograph of the artwork, which measures 37145 × 27369 pixels and has a resolution of 300 dpi. This results in a total of 1016621505 pixels, equivalent to 1.016621505 gigapixels.
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The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Image provided by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, (KHM-Museumsverband)
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THEMES, SUBJECTS, HISTORICAL FRAMEWORKS, LEGENDS, MYTHS, METAPHORS, AND NARRATIVE STORYTELLING INTERCONNECTED IN THE TOWER OF BABEL PAINTING.
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Where does the storytelling of the Tower of Babel begin?
The mythological Tower of Babel is mentioned in Genesis 11:1. According to the Book of Genesis, the first book of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, the tower was built after the Great Flood in the land of Shinar, in ancient Babylonia, now part of the Middle East.
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The Babylonians, led by Nimrod, sought to build a great city and construct a tower that would reach the heavens. At that time, they were united and spoke a common language, allowing them to collaborate effectively. However, God disrupted their efforts by causing them to speak different languages, which made it impossible for them to understand one another.
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As a result, the people could no longer communicate effectively and were spread across the Earth. In response to their arrogance, God punished the builders by confusing their speech and creating different languages, hindering their ability to work and communicate together.
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TB-IGP|AE VISITOR EXPERIENCE, NARRATIVE STORYTELLING AND VISUALIZATION
The narrative and visualization aim to create engaging, multilayered storytelling through innovative techniques and experimental methods. This approach highlights the author’s artistic vision and skills, showcasing a fresh aesthetic experience. Franz Fischnaller integrates traditional art with digital media and immersive storytelling, enhancing narratives using advanced technologies and tools. TB-IGP|AE presents an unconventional artistic narrative that captivates the audience, igniting curiosity, anticipation, and connection. It enhances enjoyment while inspiring exploration of the insights and themes in Bruegel’s narratives, storytelling, symbolism, perspective, compositions, and painting techniques.
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Through TB-IGP|AE, visitors can explore the painting’s composition and details at an extraordinary scale of the original artwork using high-resolution Gigapixel zoom capabilities. The legendary figure of Nimrod, mentioned in Genesis 10:8–12, is known as the king of Shinar (Lower Mesopotamia) and the ruler who commissioned the construction of the Tower. He is one of the key characters depicted in Bruegel’s painting. In this artwork, Nimrod, originally depicted at a height of 17.64 cm, is scaled and enlarged to more than 20 times its original size in the 4K resolution projected image.
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TB-IGP|AE TECHNOLOGIES, MEDIA, TECHNIQUES, METHODS, AND TOOLS
To develop the project, TB-IGP|AE employs a range of methods, media tools, technologies, and techniques. This includes both 2D and 3D digital graphics, 3D modeling, simulation, and texturing. The project incorporates a blend of digital animation, artificial intelligence, visual effects (VFX), and motion graphics. Additionally, digital photography was used, featuring both micro and macro imaging. The team combined ultra-high-resolution data and integrated digital music and sound effects into the final product.
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HIGHLIGHTS OF BRUEGEL’STOWER OF BABEL PAINTING
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In his original painting, Pieter Bruegel offers a personal interpretation and artistic perspective on the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, which is believed to have existed in ancient Mesopotamia in the Middle East. The central figure in this scene is likely Nimrod, who supervised the tower’s construction.
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The artwork portrays a massive structure being built by a diverse group of people using various tools and intricate machinery. Bruegel demonstrates his exceptional artistic and technical skills, along with a deep understanding of the subject matter. Interestingly, low-income families are depicted as living within the tower during its construction.
Despite its majestic appearance, the tower shows signs of age, with visible cracks and weathered stones that emphasize the contrast between its grandeur and the passage of time. The stone structure combines ancient and Romanesque architectural styles, featuring elegantly curved arches and impressive Roman engineering. Its design closely resembles the iconic Colosseum, adding to its historical significance.
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Bruegel’s artwork effectively conveys the pressing issues of his time, capturing the anxieties of his contemporaries and the rising tensions between Protestants and Catholics that characterized the era. He situated the tower in a mythological context near a small Flemish town and its port, Antwerp, highlighting the town’s small size.
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The painting showcases a striking contrast between the small Flemish port and the towering structure above it. This perspective emphasizes the city’s minor scale compared to the grandeur of the tower, highlighting the difference in proportions between the two. Bruegel was deeply fascinated by the complexities of human activity, capturing every detail with almost scientific accuracy. He rendered ships with such precision that viewers could almost sense the sway of the vessels on the water.
Pieter Bruegel’s paintings are unique in their narrative style, featuring expansive landscapes and vibrant crowds that connect human activity with nature. His compositions arrange figures across the canvas, creating focal points that draw the viewer’s eye. Moreover, his work vividly represents the construction practices of his time, illustrating the labor and craftsmanship involved in building structures with striking detail, realism, and authenticity. Bruegel depicts 16th-century Antwerp artisans, showcasing stone masonry alongside the era’s craftsmanship and industrious spirit.
Bruegel was inspired by his time. King Nimrod, dressed in Renaissance fashion, evokes King Philip II of Spain, who ruled the Netherlands during that period. The tower’s design is influenced by the Colosseum in Rome, which was already in ruins by the sixteenth century and may have served as a model for the crumbling structure in the painting.
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ABOUT PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born around 1525, likely in Breda, which was part of the Duchy of Brabant (now in the Netherlands). He died in September 1569 in Brussels, now the capital of Belgium. Bruegel’s artistic style is associated with the “Flemish Renaissance,” a movement that is part of the broader Northern Renaissance but has its own distinct characteristics.
He is regarded as the most significant Flemish painter of the 16th century, known for his landscapes and lively, often humorous depictions of peasant life. Bruegel was born during a turbulent period marked by the Protestant Reformation and significant political instability in Belgium and the Netherlands.
His works reflect the complexities of his time. The 16th century also saw the peak of the Italian Renaissance and its transition into Mannerism, which notably influenced his art.
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FISCHNALLER’S VISIONS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
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Franz Fischnaller, the author of TB-IGP|AE, is working to establish innovative standards and benchmarks in storytelling processes, methodologies, development, production visualization, and user experience.
His aim is to enhance user engagement and improve the overall impact of narratives and visualization, while breaking new ground in current practices. Ultimately, this initiative seeks to make significant progress in the storytelling industry, promoting advancements that exceed current standards through personalized approaches and innovative techniques.
Fischnaller focuses on creating captivating experiences using personalized methods and cutting-edge techniques. His vision combines advanced technologies, tools, and media with traditional artistic expressions, resulting in a dynamic synergy between digital media and immersive storytelling.
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He is dedicated to redefining storytelling by developing new and immersive narrative forms that challenge conventional boundaries and engage audiences in transformative experiences enriched with multilayered perspectives and dimensions. With a passion for innovation, Fischnaller is committed to revolutionizing storytelling by enhancing processes, methodologies, production, and visualization. His goal is to maximize the impact of storytelling and set new benchmarks for user experience.
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CREDITS
Author: Franz Fischnaller
Development, Support & Coordination: DIAC
Coordinator of Content and Production Development: Yesi Maharaj Singh
Music & Sound: Alfredo Miti, DIAC, Historic Reckoning Rubric, Kyle Preston
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We extend our gratitude to the EuropIA Institute and the World AI Cannes Festival (WAICF) 2025 for their support,
with special thanks to Diana Vicinelli Landi, AI expert at the EuropIA Institute, for her valuable collaboration on this project.
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The Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna (KHM-Museumsverband) has provided the high-resolution image of “The Tower of Babel” by Pieter Bruegel
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The thematic elements of the Tower of Babel myth and related narratives have been carefully analyzed
using credible sources and thorough fact-checking.
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TB-IGP|AE © Franz Fischnaller 2025. All Rights Reserved.
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”The Tower of Babel is a mythical tale that explores themes of rivalry, competition, and jealousy. It highlights human ambition and the desire for supremacy and power, along with the internal conflicts these ambitions create. Additionally, it illustrates the struggles people face against the deities they constructed in their own image. This narrative generates a cycle of animosity, chaos, disunity, and self-destruction. The story has had a lasting influence on human behavior, actions, and interactions throughout history, continuing to shape society even today”.
Franz Fischnaller
Contact: yang.sue@orange.fr