Get your ticket and Gogh: New immersive exhibition of legendary artist's work shines
In an 1874 correspondence to his brother, Vincent Van Gogh wrote, "...find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful."
It is my belief that Van Gogh and just about anyone else would find much beauty to behold in Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.
Imaginative and deeply entrancing, Beyond Van Gogh offers its audience something out of a dream. From the very beginning you are transported to another dimension and placed inside the works and perhaps the very mind of Vincent Van Gogh.
What begins as a sort of visual history behind the artist, featuring written words about his artistic journey and selected quotes from letters he wrote, culminates in a completely immersive experience as his artwork comes to life around you and even under your feet.
Beyond Van Gogh
Sébastien Grernier-Cartier, CEO and partner at Montreal-based Normal Studio says the first and most important challenge was to make sure that in creating the experience, the depth of meaning behind the artists brushstrokes didn't get lost in the technology.
"The objective is to use the technology, but to make it disappear,"Grernier-Cartier said. "So that when you dive into it, you don't feel that you're looking at an image, but rather you're in it, like an environment."
Dozens of projectors set up in a grid beam the high resolution scans of Van Gogh's work around the exhibit. Every surface, including the floor seems to breathe, Van Gogh's most famous works fill your vision and an ambient soundtrack plays and moves over the digital scenery.
Grernier-Cartier says they wanted to make an experience that was inclusive of everyone, "Beyond Van Gogh is for families," he said. "Kids love it. You know, they lived in the age where they see images everywhere. So for them, it's like just a natural thing to follow like images on the floor."
In each of the scenes presented, Van Gogh's works seem to come to life, elements move and sway with the soft music overhead. Digital artists worked to isolate and manipulate textures and colours and even whole elements from the artist's work.
"There is a scene where you're looking at different paintings of Van Gogh that he did of himself, and then we've extended them onto the floor a little bit, so it feels like the room is infinite," he said.
Beyond Van Gogh
The organizers want to make sure people feel safe when they come and visit Beyond Van Gogh. The space has hand washing stations and there is plenty of room to roam around so social distancing space is available.
Tickets are currently available on the website (https://calgaryvangogh.com) every Thursday morning, there are special tickets to attend a yoga class right in the middle of the immersive space.
The exhibit opens Friday July 30 and runs until August 30.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Feds 'not interested' in investing in LNG facilities: energy minister
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says the federal government is 'not interested' in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including the electrification of projects currently in the works.
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
Global measles cases nearly doubled in one year, researchers say
The number of measles cases around the world nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, researchers say, presenting a challenge to efforts to achieve and maintain elimination status in many countries.
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
The rise of remote and hybrid work has made it harder to justify a full office, so more are leaning on co-working spaces that they share with many others for convenience and cost savings. The choice, however, comes at the expense of privacy and control.
What Trudeau's podcast appearances say about the Liberals' next ballot box question
Trudeau recently appeared on four podcasts as he travels the country talking up the Liberals' latest budget, which he's pitching as a plan to inject more economic fairness into society for those under 40 — a cohort that has kept Trudeau in power since 2015 but is increasingly turning to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Aerial photos show wide devastation left by tornado in China's Guangzhou
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed the wide devastation of a part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging over a hundred buildings.
Russian drones set a hotel ablaze in a Ukrainian Black Sea city
Russian drones early Sunday struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor reported, while ammunition shortages continued to hobble Kyiv's troops in the more than two-year-old war.
A munitions explosion at a Cambodian army base kills 20 soldiers, but its cause is unclear
Security was tight around a military base in southwestern Cambodia on Sunday, a day after a huge explosion there killed 20 soldiers, wounded others and damaged nearby houses.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.