It’s Safe to Go to Van Gogh: LA’s New Immersive Experience
Currently the #1 selling show in the world, this event is “a completely new way of encountering art.” This is
Sadaf Tabibzadeh
Currently the #1 selling show in the world, this event is “a completely new way of encountering art.” This is a digital art exhibit ranging from an hour to an hour-fifteen minutes. Whether you learned about ‘Starry Night’ from school, or you’re an art history major, you won’t want to miss this. Brought to you by Massimiliano Siccardi, Vittorio Guidotti, and Luca Longobardi, this experience will bring you art reimagined.
Safe To Gogh
While most activities have shifted to covid-friendly regulations, others haven’t made the shift as swiftly. Luckily, the Van Gogh experience is practically made for our pandemic era. Staff and customer temperature checks, contactless payment, and floored marking remain assured. Contact tracing, regular cleaning, and sanitization stations are also guaranteed. In fact, vangoghla.com claims zero reported cases since their exhibit in Toronto, which held over 170,000 visitors. While safety isn’t guaranteed to its entirety, proceed with caution.
Tickets are selling fast – the months of March, and April are already sold out. Luckily, the exhibit is making its way to LA on May 27th, 2021. Following success in its Chicago and Toronto shows, the LA exhibit has been extended to January 2nd, 2022.
What is Immersive Van Gogh?
With the lockdown still in full effect, our ways in viewing art has also changed. Atelier des Lumieres (which means “workshop of lights), brings us exactly what their name presumes. This company is a digital art center that runs under a French museum called Culturespaces. Its point for this project is … Walking through 300,000 cubic feet of the late artist will leave you in a mesmerizing trance. These projections of large, moving artwork will have you feeling like you’re part of the art itself. The installation features the Mangeurs de pommes de terre, the Nuit étoilée, Les Tournesols, and much more. 14 segments are included, in both chronological and non-chronological order.
The Team
The designer of this exhibit is none other than Massimiliano Siccardi, a celebrated photographer and professor of digital image. Siccardi is known for his videography work for various international galas and festivals. He has been with Atelier des Lumieres since 2012. The exhibit’s designer is Italian composer and pianist, Luca Longobardi. Longobardi earned his doctorate in digital audio restoration from Rome in 2011. Vangoghla.com describes his works to “reveal a strong interaction between classical and contemporary music. The exhibit’s animator is Vittorio Guidotti – a graduate from the European Institute of Design. Guidotti is an experienced animator who is the Creative Director for all the main shows of Carriers de Lumiers.
Who was Vincent Van Gogh?
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” These are the words of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), the Dutch post-impressionist painter. Van Gogh deserves to be known for more than the typical artist-who-cut-his-own-ear-off. Growing up, Van Gogh tried impressing his family by getting a ‘real’ job in business and religion. Ultimately, he failed at everything he tried. His constant feeling of wanting to be accepted left him in disdain. On his 32nd birthday, after mourning the death of his father and his wife to suicide, his life changed.
He decided to end his days of suffering and began to paint his first work of art, ‘Mangeurs de pommes de terre,’ or, the ‘Potato Eaters.’ Shortly after, Van Gogh moved in with his brother in Paris, where he could “become great among the great ones,” according to Siccardi. Using colors inspired by the impressionist artists of that period, he dreamt of a big hope.
He continued to create art after admitting himself into an asylum, after his looming mental health declined. “His painfully empathetic work served as an inspiration for millions of souls,” says Colm Feore (Toronto actor). “He shows us that even the darkest night can be bright with stars.”
Disclaimer
For those who are photosensitive or at-risk for epilepsy, this exhibit frequents flashing lights that could endanger your health.