Dreaming with Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is a travelling exhibition that premiered in the UK in St Mary's Church, York on the 5th of July 2019. Before then it had delighted a wide audience in Italy and Belgium. It is a 360 degrees digital projection of over 200 of Van Gogh's paintings projected onto the walls of an old church, alongside a colouring table and a virtual reality experience allowing visitors to see the life of Vincent Van Gogh and how he was inspired by Arles which is shown through many of his paintings.

As Mario Iacampo, Creative Director and Founder of Exhibition Hub, described “For so many people, art is inaccessible – paintings hung in galleries where you understand little context about the work.  This immersive experience changes that completely, with some of the most famous pieces of art in the world not only shown on a larger than life scale, but actually bringing the images to life with movement that isn’t confined to the edges of a picture frame.”

Whilst I would argue that the ticket prices are a bit expensive therefore restricting accessibility, I would have to agree with him. On my own visit to the Van Gogh experience, a term from my museum studies degree kept coming up. 'Edutainment': a term combining the words 'education' and 'entertainment' and is used by many disciplines to describe when games, movies or shows are designed to be educative. To start off with, the visitor was invited to sit down in comfy deckchairs or sofas and enjoy the calming music accompanied with moving images of Van Gogh's paintings in a story that would give some idea of what his mood was when painting as emphasized by some of his most well known pieces. For example, 'The Sunflowers', and 'The Potato Eaters'. Little text was used in this film, but in the next room there was an exhibition board with a timeline and a biography allowing visitors to know more about him if they so wished.

Further to this, in the next room, there was a drawing table encouraging visitors to come up with their own Van Gogh Designs or colour in one of Van Gogh's paintings. These could then be uploaded onto a projector, displaying them onto the wall. Another delight for visitors was the virtual reality experience which took visitors further into Van Gogh's world showing them his house, village (Arles in France) and gardens. Whilst I didn't do this, I have read that it is well worth the extra £3.

The Visitors' Gallery

This is definitely an experience that will not fail to emotionally effect you. It is perfect for a rainy day, or if you are wanting to escape the buzz of the city. Well, mostly, there is a very realistic section where rain falls from the ceiling and makes rippling droplets on the ground around you. As I watched, I became entranced by Van Gogh's life and how his paintings changed with his mood. I felt calm. Falling into a deep stupor, it became a shock when a steam train came through the front wall, which just goes to show how well this experience had been done.

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