Many museums aim to provide engaging and unforgettable experiences, moving beyond perfect selfie settings. The focus shifts often from traditional art galleries to immersive exhibitions. Modern art enthusiasts actively participate in the exhibitions, craving exciting stories, unusual interactive artworks, and responsive pieces.
Museums, theaters, and parks adopt technologies like VR and AR, blending digital art with physical structures. Vibrant lights enhance the experience, while some hosts allow guests to co-create art installations — from murals to digital works.
In European cities, “the night of the museum” offers an immersive art experience, with a celebratory atmosphere distinct from regular exhibitions. As this event occurs yearly, engaging the audience becomes crucial. Some events feature food offerings and socializing opportunities, expanding beyond traditional museum experiences.
How Online Art Influences Our Emotions?
In recent years, sought-after tickets are immersive exhibitions. It’s not just about projecting images; modern exhibits simply offer much more. Just imagine visitors who paint graffiti on virtual walls, and LED lights dance to a specially composed soundtrack. Still, finding permanent high-tech exhibits outside festivals remains a challenge. The best artworks are often a part of a pop-up art installation.
Immersive art profoundly affects emotions through sensory stimulation. Exhibits showcase vibrant colors and dynamic shapes, eliciting various feelings, even melancholy. Ambient music enhances emotional experiences, and some exhibits allow touching elements, fostering curiosity or calmness. Spatial arrangements and lighting dynamics create varied comfort levels for visitors.
6 Immersive Artworks To See This Year
In this guide, I will delve into the key criteria that are often considered essential for a successful immersive art exhibition:
- Interactivity & Engagement – Does the exhibition transport participants to an alternative reality? Does the artwork enable visitors to actively engage?
- Concept & Meaning – Do the themes encourage visitors to contemplate the exhibition content and evoke emotions?
- Technical Excellence – Is the technology seamlessly integrated without overshadowing the art?
The teamLab Art Collaborative Comes To Europe In 2024
Queuing for attractions is the only downside. It’s pricey, but a day there is worth it. En Tea House offers tea in an illuminated setting, with interactive tea bowls projecting blooming flowers.
I appreciate TeamLab’s collaborative efforts. The Borderless exhibition in Tokyo goes beyond the regular concept. Walking around, you can actually smell the flowers. It’s visually appealing and flawless, with artworks interacting through sound.
In 2024, TeamLab opens a permanent exhibition in Wonderwoods near Utrecht Central Station, called Nowhere. It’s a 3,000-square-meter ground-floor space with a biophilic design, coexisting with living, working, and recreation.
Nowhere is Europe’s 1st space for immersive digital art with living architecture and collaborative art works filling the space.
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms
until 24 April 2024, Tate Modern, London
Tate Modern offers a chance to experience two of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. This exhibit is like stepping into mesmerizing mirror rooms, surrounded by the captivating repetition of Kusama’s iconic installations. Alongside, you discover more of Kusama’s artworks lining the exhibit walls. If you step into Kusama’s immersive artworks, you’ll find yourself transported into her unique vision of endless reflections.
There is a lot of humour and a lot of pain in the work of Kusama. The repetitive patterns and endless reflections within these rooms can convey a sense of being trapped or overwhelmed, reflecting the cyclical nature of pain and suffering. Kusama often uses motifs such as dots and tentacles, which may symbolize the invasive and overwhelming nature of mental illness.
On the other hand, Kusama’s art often invites viewers to interact and engage with the space, encouraging a sense of childlike wonder and exploration.
There is also a small presentation providing some historical context of her works helping to understand more. The first Infinity Room is called by Kusama Chandelier of Grief. A lavish chandelier, adorned with flickering lights, spins gracefully from above. Encircled by an unending sea of lights, you find yourself immersed in a captivating ambiance
As you traverse a reflective walkway over a shallow pool, in the second room you will see the endless repetitions of tiny dots of light surround you in mirrors and water, pulsating like a heartbeat or a ticking clock. In Kusama’s visual hallucinations, she undergoes ‘obliteration’ through repeated dots. It seems like an invitation for us to partake in this ‘self-obliteration’.
Anthony McCall: Split Second
27 June 2024 – 27 April 2025, Tate Modern, London
Anthony McCall is known for his ‘solid-light’ vertical installations shown alongside their horizontal variants. The artwork features a beam of projected light slowly evolving in real, three-dimensional space, somewhere between cinema, sculpture and drawing. In the exhibition, visitors will be able to enter and explore the large-scale sculptural forms from projected light.
Marshmallow Laser Feast: Into The Black Hole
until 19 April 2024, Valkhof Museum Nijmegen, Netherlands
The immersive installation, Distortions in Spacetime, at the Valkhof Museum is a part of the Into the Black Hole exhibition. It is a beautiful interpretation of the cosmos that will let you experience the mysteries of the black hole as a combination of science and art. Nothing in the domain of astronomy intrigues people more than black holes, perhaps because black holes are far away and outside our perception.
“There is no science without the capacity to imagine and to think creatively. Vice versa, there is no art without knowledge of the world, of whatever kind.” mentioned Marie Stel Curator of modern and contemporary art Valkhof Museum. The creators from different cultures, scientific backgrounds and generations show how important the imagination is in approaching the black hole. The way we perceive things may differ depending on our generation and backgrounds, but the emotions of wonder that we experience when we look into the eye of a black hole are the same.
Atelier des Lumières: Egyptian Pharaohs From Cheops To Ramses II
9 February – 5 January 2025, Atelier des Lumières, Paris
With this exhibition you will rediscover Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs through ancient masterpieces, immersing yourself in the legendary civilization. Firstly, sand, lifted by the wind, seen by French scientists in 1798-1801 and depicted by the painter David Roberts.
The enduring legacy of Ancient Egypt, tied to pharaohs ruling a united kingdom, is seen in monumental sculptures, legendary battles, and divine treasures.
The technical side of digital exhibitions at Atelier des Lumières in Paris involves advanced projection mapping, high-resolution visuals, synchronized soundscapes, and interactive technology. At Atelier des Lumières’ website, you can also discover the exhibition playlist of the music that accompanies the immersive experience.”
Multi-Sensory Tots Classes at Frameless
Frameless, London
Many visitors said that you don’t have to be a lover of Art to enjoy the performances at Frameless. They bring kids along to enjoy the different viewing rooms. You can make yourself comfortable and sit on the floor or benches.
The Babysitting Club partners with Frameless to deliver engaging multi-sensory classes, offering a perfect setting for adults and children to enjoy together with friends. These classes aim to entertain you by transporting you and your little one into an enchanted forest.
As you explore, you’ll search for magical pixie dust among stepping stones, experience a rain shower, and discover wonders under a vibrant rainbow.
Singing along with the performers to well-known tunes, playing with colorful sensory props, and catching bubbles are all part of unlocking imagination and wonder through play, music, and movement.
How to get the most of the multi-sensory exhibition?
Immersive art exhibitions influence our emotions through a combination of sensory stimulation, spatial design, and conceptual exploration. It’s still not the very common experience in Europe make sure the make the most of it:
- Read in advance about the artists, themes, and techniques used during the exhibition. Try to understand the context which will help you to connect more deeply with the artwork.
- Arrive early to avoid the crowds and enjoy the exhibition without distractions. It allows for a more personal connection with the exhibits.
- During the exhibition don’t hesitate to look at try the interactive elements.
- Listen to the accompanying soundtrack, during the exhibition, feel the ambient lighting, and pay attention to scents.
- After the experience find some time to reflect on it. Listen to the soundtrack playlist. Create a micro photoalbum with your own reflections to make the visit more memorable and meaningful.
