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“Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” surrounds visitors with the story and creations of the Dutch painter. (Photo courtesy Exhibition Hub)
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Photo courtesy Exhibition Hub
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Photo courtesy Exhibition Hub
I recently went out to see “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” in Short Pump, fitted into a former Lidl grocery store.
This is a sentence I didn’t imagine ever constructing, but then again, I wouldn’t have thought to see a fall 2022 presentation at Stony Point Fashion Park of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings housed in an empty H&M.
And to be accurate, this Vincent van Gogh show is one of those in the spate of “experiences,” the intention of which is to take you into the art and even the artist’s creative mind and, in this case, his living quarters.
If you’re not soon to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, or other such venues more distant than Short Pump, you’re in luck: This trip doesn’t involve an invasive TSA search and saves you the cost of an international flight as well as admission fees to museums where they keep the real thing. For “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” in Short Pump, tickets start at $30 ($18 for children 12 and under).
The temporary space at 12151 W. Broad St., though in Henrico County, is designated as the Exhibition Hub Richmond Art Center.
There’s a lot to experience with short documentaries, moving images and music. The “wow” factor starts near the entrance, with a colossal head of Van Gogh onto which examples of his work are projected and reproductions of his sunflowers and self-portraits. Besides the mystique of these works, Van Gogh was, like every artist before and after, using these pieces to sort through technique and improve his process.
Sunflowers didn’t demand payment or argue with him, and Van Gogh posed himself as an inexpensive and readily available model. But when an artistic genius is workshopping to get on to the next phase of their creative life, what they leave behind can later gain admiration worthy of a museum — or an empty suburban grocery store.
You can go and sit in a re-creation of the famous Arles, France, bedroom that Van Gogh captured through his paintings. But don’t expect a repeat of the 2016 construction at the Art Institute of Chicago that they rented out as an overnight accommodation. Van Gogh painted three variations of this setting and, to me, would serve as an arty version of identifying human versus robot: “Can you spot the changes in these pictures?”
Among the things you’ll learn is that, given their temperaments, Van Gogh and fellow artist Paul Gauguin should never have been roomies — a poor pairing that ended with the infamous self-mutilation where Van Gogh cut off his own left ear.
The son of a judgmental minister father, Van Gogh believed himself called to the ministry. He preached in England and assisted the destitute miners of Belgium, and as he sought to bring succor and comfort to the least, the church fired him. Out of this situation, he turned fully to art.
The experience’s biographical texts, timelines and explanations are informative for those who may not know much about the artist, but even those who do will most likely discover something new. And for the budding Van Gogh in your family, there’s a section of craft tables equipped with crayons, which can be used to create masterpieces that can then be projected onto a gallery wall.
I spoke with Exhibition Hub Executive Producer John Zaller, a Cleveland native whose background embraces literature, sculpture, theater design, rhetoric and creative writing. Of this world of “immersive experiences,” he says, “It’s a 3D walk through novel. We do our best to put ourselves into [Van Gogh’s] shoes.” And, well, the artist knew something about shoes.
A former Lidl supermarket in Short Pump has been transformed into the Exhibition Hub Richmond Art Center for the Van Gogh experience. (Photo by Harry Kollatz Jr.)
As for the former Lidl, Zaller explains he traveled to the Richmond area five times in the past 16 months searching for a venue to host Van Gogh. “We try to find spaces that people know how to get to, [where] there’s easy access and plenty of parking, and it’s a commercial district with various offerings, so a visitor can come have the experience, get something to eat and really make a day of it.”
The Van Gogh exhibition, and those similar, occupy a space Zaller says, between cultural exhibition and entertainment.
“And it often depends on what you go for,” Zaller says. “Some go for the technology, some strictly for the art, but the goal is that everybody goes away satisfied. Your current cultural consumer may have limited resources, so we try to deliver.”
But the spectacle in the spectacular view of the artist’s life and legacy comes in the large space where, with undulating animation, a pleasant Van Gogh voice guides you through his artistic evolution. You’re sitting in chairs that resemble European beach loungers, adorned by the “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” logo. Be warned that the whirling stars and the changing scenes can be somewhat dizzying.
I also took the Virtual Reality goggles tour (it’s $5 extra), which, for me, provided new sensations. You walk through a painted world with Van Gogh as your guide, and me being a sociable type wanted to wave and bid good day to some of the moving figures, but they were like unresponsive nonplayer characters. And, after all, if such interaction were included, visitors would tarry for far too long.
The whole tour is synced with music designed for the show by Michelino Bisceglia and Thomas Sohet that creates an additional cinematic feel. The soundbed is by turns ethereal and dramatic, suiting the character. Most visitors may know how Van Gogh’s life ended, though recent scholarship indicates that maybe some neighborhood kids got carried away in a game of “Cowboys and Indians.” The artist didn’t want to get them in trouble and said he shot himself. The theory held possibilities for Richmond artist Bernard Martin.
“Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” will run at least through October. School groups will be getting their chance to tour, and there’ll be opportunities for private events.
After getting reacquainted with Van Gogh’s celebration of nature through the technology employed to animate and detail his life’s work, were the artist here today, I think he’d pause and perhaps want to clamber over the white fencing that girds the nearby Pruitt family farm. The 95-acre space is what remains of rural Short Pump from the not-so-distant past and sits across from the sprawling Short Pump Town Center.
Van Gogh took occasion to paint farmers’ fields overshadowed by smoke-belching factories as though they were ships steaming into a wheatfield sea. He might make the artistic point of depicting an angle with the farmhouse in the foreground and beyond the bustle of commerce seemingly held at bay — from his side — by a picturesque fence.
I leave you with this popular episode of the long-running “Doctor Who” time traveling show, in which The Doctor brings Van Gogh to a future retrospective of his work.
"Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" continues through Oct. 31 at the Exhibition Hub Richmond Art Center, 12151 W. Broad St. Tickets start at $30 ($18 for children 12 and under).
