How immersive exhibitions can deepen our appreciation and understanding of culture
An article in The Guardian, “Immersive exhibitions: the future of art or overpriced theme parks?”, reminds me of how much I enjoyed “Frida Kahlo: Life and Work”, an exhibition sponsored by Spanish infrastructure company Acciona which runs until April 30 (a trailer of the experience can be found here).
I was impressed. I’m familiar with Kahlo’s work and have even visited the house where she lived with Diego Rivera in Coyoacán (Mexico City), but the exhibition’s format, using 360º projection technologies and music, was, as they say, something else.
The exhibition is absorbing: the visitor enters a huge, dimly lit room, with some places clearly intended for seating, a ceiling full of projection artifacts, and an altar-like podium in one area. But when the lights go out completely and you begin to receive stimuli in the form of recordings that tell a story that unfolds visually on all the walls of the room, in which you see happening, chronologically, the different stages of Frida’s life, her childhood, her accident, her complex relationship with Diego Rivera, and how many of these stages are reflected in her work, her influences and her progression in the art world, you find that the experience, firstly, is short, and secondly, leaves you feeling that you’ve learned more and enjoyed…
