On Thursday, December 4, 2025, NUMIX LAB will be hosting a panel discussion on artistic and cultural hybridity in Vienna. We spoke to Gaëlle Philippe, in charge of digital, audiobook and foresight at the Centre National du Livre.
She will be presenting the links between artistic hybridity and literature, as well as a new virtual reality project, Vivre LiVRes.
Can you introduce yourself and the Centre National du Livre?
My name is Gaëlle Philippe, and I’m in charge of digital, audiobook and forward planning at the Centre National du Livre (CNL), attached to the delegation for distribution and reading.
The CNL is a public administrative body under the authority of the Ministère de la culture. Its mission is to accompany and financially support all players in the book chain: authors, publishers, booksellers and librarians. Under the impetus of its current director, Régine Hatchondo, the CNL has recently developed new initiatives in the field of reading, in particular support schemes targeting specific audiences: schoolchildren, people far removed from reading for various reasons (hospitalization, incarceration…), with, for example, the creation of the “Goncourt des détenus” prize.
We have also launched the “ Lire en entreprise” program, designed to reach adults who are not well-served by our traditional programs, directly at their place of work.
On the digital front, the CNL supports technological innovation projects aimed at strengthening the skills of players in the sector: platforms, applications, creation and development of audio books. This last area represents a relatively new positioning for our establishment.
On December 4, you’ll be taking part in panel 3, “Hybridity in the arts and culture”, where the panel will give the floor to new experiments (breaking down barriers with other disciplines such as books, video games, live performance, etc.)? How can the Centre National du Livre contribute to the theme of hybridity between digital and literary media?
For several years now, we’ve been looking at immersive technologies and their potential to bring young people closer to reading. As part of my foresight missions, I’ve been able to observe the wealth of creativity in this sector, despite the fact that it operates according to very different logics to those of the book world: business models, professional networks, operating modes.
The CNL has made young people a priority, and is seeking to encourage them to return to reading. We’ve therefore chosen to explore digital technology, a key vector for reaching this audience. The idea is to make reading attractive once again by drawing on their digital habits.
We’ve been looking at a number of techniques, including virtual reality, with the ambition of creating a work inspired by French literature, with the aim of stimulating the desire to read thanks to an experience that’s both immersive and familiar, and encouraging viewers to return to paper books. Ideally, the works in question would even be available on site, at the venues where the experience is presented.
Where will it be broadcast?
Initially, our main target is the network of departmental libraries equipped with VR headsets, whose mission is to animate the territory of local libraries by rotating their batch of headsets and the VR or digital experiences they acquire.
Eventually, we plan to extend our distribution to other types of venues: immersive cinemas, theaters, cultural centers…
This VR project is a first for the CNL: we are committing ourselves as co-producer alongside Lucid Realities, which is unprecedented for our establishment. We are currently in the development phase, with a prototype in the works, and are looking for other co-producers and backers.
Until now, the CNL’s main role has been to provide funding through grants. This is the case, for example, for :
- EDRLab (European Digital Reading Lab), a major player in digital book accessibility;
- SCELF (Société civile des éditeurs de langue française), for the Shoot the Book! program, facilitates exchanges between publishers and audiovisual producers for the adaptation of literary works into films or series. It acts as a database where producers and publishers can exchange data on the works and projects they will be contracting for.
What are the 3 challenges facing your projects today in terms of creation / production / distribution? How could the NUMIX LAB respond to them?
In terms of production, the main challenge lies in the meeting of two ecosystems: the book industry and the digital industry. They share neither the same economic logic nor the same work processes. In the Lucid Realities project, we have to reconcile the constraints of a public institution with those of an audiovisual producer, while negotiating rights with publishers and rights holders, who are often unfamiliar with this type of project. The role of the CNL is therefore to bridge these worlds and harmonize communication and methodology.
On the creative side, the challenge was to faithfully translate the literary universe into a visual and interactive work. To achieve this, we called on the services of a comic-book author-scriptwriter, whose narrative sensibility is closer to the audiovisual world. The aim is to make the works accessible to non-reading audiences, whether through audiovisual or immersive adaptation, digital or even video games, without oversimplifying them or betraying their meaning. The aim is to make people want to discover the original work, not to replace it with an immersive experience.
In our project, the idea is to present the world of the work, to create an interaction with the user who will interrogate it, to create an empathy with the character that we feel while reading, and thus to make the viewer want to dive into the book afterwards and continue the experience.
In terms of distribution, the main challenge is to provide unified support and mediation. In this new project, for example, the CNL plans to create an educational booklet to facilitate the appropriation of the work and enrich its reception.
Taking part in NUMIX LAB is a valuable opportunity for us. It enables us to meet players we rarely come into contact with, to better understand their constraints and challenges (technical, contractual, economic) and to identify potential distribution networks by visiting certain venues and meeting representatives of immersive theaters and structures. Finally, it opens the door to short- and long-term financial partnerships.
The NUMIX LAB returns for its sixth edition in Austria and Hungary, from December1 to 5, 2025, with the theme “Beyond Borders”. NUMIX LAB is an initiative of {CORRESPONDANCES DIGITALES] and Xn Québec.
Many thanks Gaëlle for your participation!
Charlotte BAUGÉ