Happy Monday friends!
Over the weekend I FINALLY went to the Imagine Van Gogh exhibit inside of the Vancouver Convention Centre near waterfront and WOW! I only have good things to say about it. I’m a little late to the party since it has been here and gaining traction for a few months now, but if you happen to be someone who hasn’t seen it yet, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. It will be here until September 7th!
For anyone who doesn’t know, here’s some context behind Imagine Van Gogh, the Original Immersive Exhibition in Image Totale:
The very first art immersive exhibition was invented in 1977 by Albert Plécy, a French photographer, in Les Baux-de-Provence, South of France. He transformed there a former underground quarry into an immersive venue named Cathédrale d’Images. The visitors were fully immersed in the paintings’ screenings through his new technique of Image Totale©.
In 2001, Annabelle Mauger joined the creative team and created the first Van Gogh immersive exhibition. After a huge success in Cathédrale d’Images, the show was presented in 2011 at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. The creation was then copied and various digital Van Gogh exhibitions toured around the world. In 2017, Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron presented in Halle de La Villette in Paris a new upgraded version in Image Totale©: Imagine Van Gogh. After a tremendous success in Paris, Imagine Van Gogh opened in Montréal in 2019 followed by Québec and Winnipeg in 2020, and Vancouver, Edmonton, Boston and Tacoma/Seattle in 2021.
Read more on their website HERE!
Now for my review:
I really loved how organized and spread out the whole activity was. When you first arrive, you enter the first room where there are lines of big signs that you can read all about Van Goghs life, story and journey towards being one of the worlds best known artists. This also builds anticipation for entering the actual exhibit and seeing all the paintings on a massive scale. Something else to note about these large signs is that everyone can easily social distance and it also keeps the exhibition room to an enjoyable capacity since people are spread out between the two rooms either reading the story or looking at the art.
After you’re done reading the educational and fascinating story, you go through the black curtains and into the next room to see the immersive exhibition that fills the whole room. It really feels like you are walking in the paintings.
My favourite part about this exhibit is that YOU are in charge of how you consume the experience. You use your own emotional intelligence to really grasp the meaning and message between images. You are free to walk around if you want, or you can stay still and take in the experience from a view that you desire. You can stay as long as you want or leave early… It’s much more of a freeing experience than having a tour guide through an art museum if that makes sense.
You can really internally feel the artwork and channel so much creative inspiration for yourself! All around a 10/10 experience that I would recommend to a friend any day!
And of course, its a great place for a photo op hahah! Here are some of the pictures that I got:
Will you be checking out Imagine Van Gogh? Have you already? What were your thoughts? Join the conversation on social media @Pulse1077!
Have a great week everyone!
-Kate Tattersall