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. 

Museum of Graffiti

July 12, 2021

Museum of Graffiti

The first hurricane of the 2021 season formed this month, Hurricane Elsa which was the earliest hurricane to form in the Caribbean and the earliest fifth named storm ever. It threatened Key West, passing just off-shore but not really causing any damage other than the standard street flooding we get every time we get a largish storm. We dodged yet another bullet, which is great, though even near misses create all the storm prep and anxiety that happens with each potential hit.

The storm eventually made landfall to little effect just north of Tampa. Soon after, Kathy headed out to our house in Colorado to check on it as we haven’t been able to visit there as much as we normally would due to the pandemic. I plan to head out later in the month and make my first visit to Colorado in two years, but in the meantime, I stayed in Key West working and watching the house and pets.

I did make a quick day trip to Miami because I wanted to check out the second of two simultaneous immersive Van Gogh art exhibits that are currently in the city. I loved the first one, “Beyond Van Gogh” that Kathy and I visited a few weeks ago and wanted to see how the other one was. But before checking that out, I also wanted to see a relatively new museum that opened in 2019 in Wynwood, The Museum of Graffiti.

The first and to date only museum in the world dedicated to the art form that Graffiti has become, the museum is designed to preserve and celebrate the artistic history of what has come to be known as an art form during my lifetime. For many years, and still today in many places, graffiti is considered not art, but a crime, an act of vandalism.

But in Miami and in Wynwood especially, graffiti has become a way of life with the artists celebrated and encouraged, with their art sought after by collectors and with fancy openings and all the trappings that come with more traditional artistic offerings. I have always had a soft spot for it, ever since traveling to New York in the late 70s and seeing the subway trains covered with creative and colorful tags. It was a part of the cool hip hop culture then and now it has gone mainstream.

Wynwood is the perfect setting for such a museum as the place is the epicenter for the arts and there are literally thousands of examples of street art and graffiti that cover most of the surfaces of buildings, streets and signs throughout the trendy neighborhood. Wynwood Walls has itself followed suit and become a museum of sorts, now charging admission to visit the painted walls.

The Museum of Graffiti has itself commissioned artists to create murals around the museum itself and the museum celebrates graffiti artists with revolving shows and a small permanent collection as well. I loved it, or more to the point, I love that it exists. I know it is very new and probably has somewhat limited resources, but it focuses almost exclusively on work in New York City and Miami and the “history” of graffiti only goes back to the 70s if you follow the take the museum suggests.

Still it is cool that such a place exists and they have done a great job with what they have available and hopefully as the appreciation for street art grows, so will the emphasis of the museum.

https://museumofgraffiti.com/