Immersive Van Gogh, created by Lighthouse Immersive, opened in the U.S. in Chicago in February 2021. Designer David Korins (Hamilton) later joined the production. According to Bereson, Immersive Van Gogh has been shown in 26 cities to date across North America and Mexico. According to Panasonic.com, for the Immersive Van Gogh Toronto exhibit, 53 Panasonic PT RZ770 laser projectors were used with an internal network to create a 360-degree experience.

Lighthouse Immersive was also set to launch nine Immersive Frida Kahlo exhibits by mid-2022, co-producing five events with Impact Museums. “You can really see a great progression and comfort in building for unique spaces through the enhancements created for Immersive Frida Kahlo taken from cues in Immersive Van Gogh, meaning the walls provide a great sense of diversity in visual offerings and the floors are really animated and activated,” Bereson says. Meanwhile, Brussels-based Exhibition Hub bowed Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience for the first time in Naples, Italy (2018) and in the U.S. in Atlanta (2021). Exhibition Hub says it will have the experience in 25 cities globally by year’s end.

“The artist himself is the inspiration [for Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience],” according to Mario Iacampo, CEO of Exhibition Hub. “Van Gogh is a rock star of the art world. His life story and work are well-known and highly relatable. Van Gogh was a natural choice for this new type of presentation.”

Iacampo explains, “Exhibition Hub created and produced the entire concept for Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, [which] utilizes 4K resolution technology provided exclusively by Barco to present its Immersive Gallery experience.” It is a 360-degree light and sound spectacular in an expansive room (typically 10,000 square feet, and 300,000 cubic feet of space) that brings more than 400 of Van Gogh’s works to life in a 35-minute digital presentation.

“The Immersive Gallery allows guests a unique opportunity to feel Van Gogh’s works wash over them,” Iacampo comments. “Barco’s visual display technology allows guests to step into Van Gogh’s paintings. Our unique experience is made possible by state-of-the-art video mapping technology, coupled with projections on the floor to create the impression of being enveloped in the art.” At the end of the show, there is also a 10-minute VR experience that allows guests to take a voyage through the French countryside to see Van Gogh’s inspirations.

Iacampo comments, “The public is looking for more transcendent experiences and deeper connections to iconic artworks and artists, and our immersive experiences deliver that. This is a new way to create and experience art. There is now room in the art world for these large-scale digital installations to interpret existing works and to create entirely new ones. Immersive art is here to stay and will join the more traditional methods of making art as another style in the artist’s palette.”

Iacampo adds, “We are continuing to develop new immersive art experiences, including ones focused on Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dalí. We are also focusing on family experiences that incorporate immersive technologies into more traditional exhibitions – think of your natural history museum’s dioramas coming to life all around you.”