As far as we can remember, there has never been a phenomenon like the immersive Van Gogh craze currently sweeping America
Maybe it’s the enduring popularity of the Dutch artist. Maybe it’s the hunger for in-the-world experiences after a year of quarantine. Maybe it’s that one scene in … but whatever it is, the hunger to venture into a giant animated projection of a Van Gogh painting is real, and it’s everywhere.
Ads with “Gogh”-themed puns (“Gogh with Mom,” “It’s Safe to Gogh,” “Don’t Wait to Gogh,” etc.) are blanketing nearly 40 different cities across the U.S. and saturating social media feeds. In some cities, such as selfie-crazed L.A., upcoming immersive Van Gogh exhibitions are all but sold out well before they open.
Installation view of Image courtesy Beyond Van Gogh.
Some are already open. Others are about to open. Some don’t even have announced venues yet, but are selling out fast.
No fewer than five different corporate entities are currently dueling it out across the map for supremacy in the Van Gogh space, causing the Better Business Bureau to issue an alert to consumers to make sure they get the Van Gogh light show that they want. In cities like Detroit, one company has snapped up the website VanGoghDetroit.com while its nemesis owns DetroitVanGogh.com.
So what’s the difference between all these experiences? Here’s a breakdown.
Installation view of . Image courtesy Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.
—Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is the vision of Mathieu St-Arnaud, creative director of Montreal-based Normal Studio, a projection-mapping outfit that has previously worked with the Montreal symphony and brought the to life. Beyond Van Gogh promises “300 of Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic artworks,” brought to life with music and “the artist’s own dreams, thoughts, and words.”
—Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition claims to employ a signature technique of immersive projection so visceral that they do not show videos on their website, because this would fail to capture the experience. Conceived by Annabelle Mauger and Julien Baron, associated with the immersive attraction known as the Cathédrale d’Images in France, Imagine Van Gogh is an animated projected collage of some 200 paintings from the final two years of Van Gogh’s life, all accompanied by classical hits by Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Bach, Delibes and Satie. There is also a “pedagogical room,” conceived with art historian Androulla Michael.
—Immersive Van Gogh is the brainchild of Italian film producer Massimiliano Siccardi. It promises, via 100 projectors, an hour-long experience completely bathing visitors in Vincent Van Gogh’s greatest hits, accompanied by “experimental electronic music with pure, ethereal and simple-seeming piano” by composer Luca Longobardi (for the New York incarnation, Hamilton production designer David Korins has been brought on for extra oomph). Siccardi and Longobardi are the team behind the experience at Paris’s L’Atelier des Lumières seen in the Netflix show , if that’s important to you.
—Van Gogh Alive comes courtesy Grande Experiences, also the braintrust behind such exhibitions as Monet & Friends and Planet Shark. Focusing on the period between 1880 and 1890, it promises “more than 3,000 Van Gogh images at enormous scale” via 40 projectors, augmented to show the Dutch artist’s sources of inspiration and set to “a powerful classical score.”
—Finally, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, a partnership between producer Exhibition Hub and “entertainment discovery platform” Fever promises to wrap you in more than 400 Van Gogh works using a trademarked video mapping technology. On top of the light show, there is a drawing studio, galleries that offer info about Van Gogh’s life and work, and an (optional) 10-minute VR experience called .
Phew!
Now, if you’re wondering whether a Van Gogh show is coming to your region (it probably is), here’s a round-up of nearly 50 U.S. shows based on the best available information.
Alabama
Birmingham
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: TBD
Arizona
Phoenix
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: July 29–November 28, 2021
California
Los Angeles
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: September 30, 2021–January 2, 2022
San Diego
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Wyland Center at Del Mar Fairgrounds
Dates: From January 2022
San Francisco
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: SVN West San Francisco (Formerly the Fillmore West)
Dates: March 18–September 6, 2021
San Jose
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: TBD
Colorado
Denver
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: September 30, 2021–February 6, 2022
Van Gogh Alive
Location: The Hangar at Stanley Marketplace
Dates: July 9–September 26, 2021
Connecticut
Danbury
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Dates: TBD
Location: TBD
Florida
Miami
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Ice Palace Studios
Dates: May 27–July 11, 2021
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Olympia Theater
Dates: May 8–August 30, 2021
Orlando
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: October 6, 2021–February 6, 2022
St. Petersburg
Van Gogh Alive
Location: The Dali Museum
Dates: November 21, 2020–June 13, 2021
Georgia
Atlanta
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Pullman Yards
Dates: May 19–September 26, 2021
Hawaii
Honolulu
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Hawai’i Convention Center
Dates: July 2–August 15, 2021
Illinois
Chicago
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: Lighthouse ArtSpace at Germania Club
Dates: February 15–November 28, 2021
Indiana
Indianapolis
Van Gogh Alive
Location: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields
Dates: Summer 2021–Fall 2021
Massachusetts
Boston
Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition
Location: SoWa Power Station
Dates: December 21, 2021–February 20, 2022
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBA
Dates: September 24, 2021–January 30, 2022
Michigan
Detroit
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TCF Center
Dates: June 25–August 15, 2021
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: October 21, 2021–February 6, 2022
Minnesota
Minneapolis
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: August 2–October 31, 2021
Missouri
Kansas City
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: December 1, 2021–February 6, 2022
Van Gogh Alive
Location: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Dates: October 23–December 31, 2021
St. Louis
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Date: TBD
Nevada
Las Vegas
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: July 1–September 6, 2021
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Area 15
Dates: May 27–July 5, 2021
New York
Buffalo
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: Eastern Hills Mall
Dates: August 10–October 3, 2021
New York City
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: Pier 36
Dates: June 4–September 6, 2021
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Skylight on Vesey
From: June 4–September 6
North Carolina
Asheville
Van Gogh Alive
Location: Biltmore
Dates: November 5, 2021–March 5, 2022
Charlotte
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: Camp North End
Dates: June 17–September 12, 2021
Ohio
Cleveland
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: October 1, 2021–February 6, 2022
Columbus
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: October 28, 2021–January 2, 2022
Oregon
Portland
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Date: TBD
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
From: August 2021
Pittsburgh
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: September 23–November 28, 2021
Tennessee
Nashville
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
From: November 4, 2021–February 6, 2022
Texas
Austin
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: The Starry Night Pavilion at Circuit of The Americas
Dates: June 18–August 8, 2021
Dallas
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: June 17–September 6, 2021
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: July 5–November 28, 2021
Houston
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: August 12–October 10, 2021
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: August 30, 2021–January 2, 2022
San Antonio
Immersive Van Gogh
Location: TBD
Dates: November 18, 2021–February 6, 2022
Utah
Salt Lake City
Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: TBD
Washington
Seattle
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: September 10, 2021–January 30, 2022
Tacoma
Imagine Van Gogh: The Immersive Exhibition
Location: Tacoma Armory
Dates: December 18, 2021–January 30, 2022
Washington, D.C.
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Location: TBD
Dates: July 23, 2021–January 26, 2022
Wisconsin
Milwaukee
Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience
Location: Wisconsin Center
Dates: July 21–September 19, 2021
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
