The Manufacture des Tabacs in Morlaix, located in Brittany (France), is a major former industrial site founded in the eighteenth century. It has been fully redeveloped into the Espace des Sciences, a multidisciplinary interpretation centre dedicated to industrial heritage, tobacco-related techniques and the scientific culture associated with the site’s long history.

The permanent exhibition combines historical narratives, scientific content and social memory while highlighting the building’s remarkable architecture.

Mazedia designed all audiovisual and digital installations for the permanent exhibition, supporting both scientific mediation and the interpretation of the site’s industrial past.

An introductory 3D film presents the evolution of the site, synchronised with the illumination of a physical scale model whose volumes change in rhythm with the projected images.

A video mapping installation uses the historic pottery jars once used to store tobacco as projection surfaces, transforming their shapes into a medium for narrating the circulation, uses and cultural representations of tobacco.

A virtual reality experience, filmed in 12K stereoscopy, immerses visitors in the stages of tobacco harvesting in southwest France and is presented on Oculus Quest 2 headsets.

Throughout the exhibition, the architect Jean-François Blondel, who designed the original building, is brought to life by an actor filmed in studio and integrated on a vertical screen, offering interpretive keys to the history and structure of the site.

Digital stations contextualise the industrial machines on display and explain their operation through pedagogical animations that clarify gestures, processes and techniques.

A series of archival montages recreates everyday life in the former factory, including the arrival of a new worker, staged through camera movements within historical photographs, graphic transitions and a narrated voice-over.