Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

July 13, 2021

 

 

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

So a few weeks ago, Kathy and I went up to Miami to check out the new immersive Van Gogh art exhibit called “Beyond Van Gogh” at the Ice Palace Studios. It is one of two similar “immersive” art exhibits about Van Gogh in Miami at the same time and I absolutely loved it. It was so cool in fact that I immediately wanted to go check out the other exhibit as soon as I got a chance, so after Kathy headed out to Colorado, I took a day off to head up to Miami and check it out.

I spent the morning at the Graffiti Museum in Wynwood and then headed over the incredibly beautiful Olympia Theater in downtown Miami for my 12:30 appointment.  The Olympia Theater first opened in 1926 as Miami’s premier silent film showcase and vaudeville stage. It is incredibly ornate and has been restored to its former glory and today hosts a variety of events.

I had been there a few times previously, once to see Damien Rice in concert and another time during the Miami Book Fair to hear Barack Obama speak. I was very curious how they would convert the space to feature the immersive Van Gogh experience, but they managed to do it, using the main auditorium as the 20,000 Sq Ft. surround projection of the two story Van Gogh presentation.

While similar to the other Van Gogh exhibit, there were some noticeable differences. The opening section, prior to entering the main room, was somewhat better. This one feature, life-size reproductions of some of his most famous works that visitors could place themselves in. It also featured some cool laser imagery and some more static displays. I thought this part was stronger than the other show.

 

The main immersion section was not quite as good. Two things stuck out immediately, one was the location itself, the theater does not have a uniform shape so, the projections were not as flawlessly interwoven. They could not cover all of the intricate carvings along portions of the wall and ceiling and while this created interesting visuals all on its own, it was also somewhat distracting. 

They also had some portions of the presentation that had a voice track that explained and spoke over the imagery. While they also had music, I thought having music alone as the other show did was preferable. These are minor complaints as overall it was very impressive and if I had only seen this one I would not have been disappointed, it was very cool and I came away just as happy and excited about having seen it as I expected.

It is also something that really needs to be experienced, photos and videos do not begin to capture how cool it is. I hope that I have many more opportunities to attend these type of exhibits, which I feel will be a growing trend as just about every city seems to have at least one happening this summer, with more certainly to come.

 

One additional cool thing that this exhibit had that was unique was a ten-minute virtual reality tour of Van Gogh’s home in France where he created some of his most memorable masterpieces. I had never done this type of virtual reality and while the somewhat bulky helmet and visor were not the most comfortable, the experience was incredible.

On the way home, I took a short detour to stop in the Everglades while waiting for an accident to clear on US1 and to check out the boardwalk in hopes of seeing some wildlife. It was very warm and not a lot was happening as far as wildlife, though there seemed to be giant grasshoppers everywhere, though only a few gators and turtles to be seen.

Once home I went downtown to show support and check out the large crowd of people who were following the lead of so many young people in Cuba and taking to the streets to protest the dreadful conditions that continue to get worse under the current (and former) Cuban regime.