THE Van Gogh Phenomenon
The Immersive Exhibits Are Astounding
Immersive Exhibitions seem to be the latest trend in the art world, and it’s the digital experience of Vincent Van Gogh that has captivated art lovers. Enveloping experiences turn the floors and walls of an exhibition space into van Gogh’s world and bring the viewer into the artist’s reality.
Immersive Van Gogh was created by the world-renowned master of digital art, Italy’s Massimiliano Siccardi, who for 30 years has been pioneering immersive exhibitions in Europe. “The biggest challenge for me is to make sure the audience member is completely immersed in the experience,” said Siccardi. “But it’s not like a movie where you captured one point of view. In this case, a person can turn around and see so many other points of view. So the biggest challenge was creating a 360-degree view of van Gogh every minute. I had to make sure that every moment told a story, which required writing a script and then choosing images that belonged in that script.”
The exhibit, designed by Massimiliano, was featured in Netflix’s rom-com Emily in Paris. The scene featured its eponymous heroine engaging a Starry Night light show, and demand has since soared. These exhibitions are popping up in most major cities in the United States, with several companies now producing immersive exhibits based on the Dutch painter. And with different companies involved, there’s confusion among the fans. Depending on the city, there is Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition or Beyond Van Gogh and Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience and the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit.
No fewer than five corporate entities are currently dueling it out across the map for supremacy in the Van Gogh space. It’s causing the Better Business Bureau to issue an alert to consumers to ensure they get the Van Gogh light show they want. In cities like Detroit, one company has snapped up the website VanGoghDetroit.com while its nemesis owns DetroitVanGogh.com.
Nadine Granoff, the director of research for a company that authenticates and appraises works of art by van Gogh, told The New York Times these experiences have “the potential to be really helpful in understanding the whole artist instead of seeing something just isolated on the wall. It can really make it come alive.”
All these companies rely on the same material, so it’s who gets the tickets out first that might fare the best. The most popular of Van Gogh’s works, Starry Night and Sunflowers, are the most recognizable and draw audiences to experience the latest phenomenon in art entertainment. “It’s a little bit of a paradox,” said Massimiliano. “Everyone was afraid of him when he was alive. They would say, but he’s crazy! But that’s also precisely why everyone loves him. So we recognize little pieces of Vincent and his craziness in us.”
This blockbuster art event will not end with Van Gogh. Already in the works; Immersive Klimt, Monet by the Water, Beyond Monet, and Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience.
