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Arts & Communication Reflecting on art through virtual exhibitions

within what makes us human on screens, like most of our available on its website. The museum offers online visits
social interactions.” For Rossin, there’s something inside with different themes, such as a view of the museum’s
the virtual world “that seems much more familiar to me works through the treatment of color and one titled A
than real life.” She is among the artists who incorporate Walk Among Flowers, which showcases still-life scenes,
technology into their work. 34 landscapes, and flowers as protagonists and the guiding

The artist and digital designer Joshua Davis has thread of the exhibition. It also enables the virtual
used digital technology in his works, and he argues customization of visits from one’s home for a price lower
that technology allows artists to reach new audiences: than entry to the museum. The exhibition that garnered
“Technology is a means to reach new people and create new the most online visits was dedicated to Sandro Botticelli,
forms of connection.” Digital technology, thus, becomes titled Virtual Renaissance: Sandro Botticelli; held in 2019, it
received over 200,000 visits.
38
a powerful tool that allows users of social networks or
interactive games to insert their emotions into virtual 5.4. Nippon America: 日本アメリカ
spaces. Psychological research on the digital realm, with a
history of 40 years, has even considered how we move our This photography project was presented in Tokyo in 2019
fingers in response to space and sound. It is an art form and is available on Google Maps for virtual exploration.
that is attractive as entertainment, distraction, and even as In this exhibition, three Latin American photographers of
an escape route. 35 Japanese origin (Marcio Takeda, Luis Okamoto, and Taeko
Nomiya) present their vision of the country through their
Virtual exhibitions and immersive art experiences are works, which can be accessed with descriptive texts and
an exciting, emerging way to experience art and are rooted audio accompanying each image from a map that the user
in phenomenology and postmodernity. As they evolve, can create and trace at will, thus modifying the route each
they offer new opportunities and ways to interact with, time they access the page. 39
understand, and appreciate artworks. They have the ability
to thrill the novice and inspire them to visit museums and 5.5. Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors
become more interested in art. Alternatively, perhaps they Yayoi Kusama (1929) is a Japanese artist whose works
are about commodifying art and turning it into a spectacle range from abstract expressionism to pop art, spanning
of light and sound, the viewers of which will never approach photography, painting, sculpture, and especially installation
a “conventional” artwork because they consider it “boring.” and performance. She uses patterns that repeat constantly
As proof of the expansion of this phenomenon, and systematically.
the highlights of some of the most successful virtual Kusama presented Infinity Mirrors in 2012 at the Tate
exhibitions from recent years have been presented below. Modern gallery, in London, which included two mirror
Currently, over 100 virtual exhibitions are being run in room installations along with detailed information about
various museums and art centers worldwide, and they her experimental performances and sculptures on “infinite
are attracting a significant number of visitors. In fact, replication.” Alongside this exhibition at the Tate Modern,
since the COVID-19 pandemic, their number has grown Kusama’s Chandelier of Grief featured spinning chandeliers
exponentially. that aimed to evoke a sense of loss in the viewer within
infinity. 40
5.1. David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life
This exhibition was created in 2012. It was displayed at the 5.6. Magritte: The Treachery of Images
Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2020 and had over 1 This physical and virtual exhibition was organized at
million online visits. 36 the Pompidou Center in Paris (2016). It welcomed over
500,000 visitors and represented an approach to the work
5.2. Museum of the Moon
of the Belgian artist Rene Magritte. It gathers his most
This exhibition, created by Luke Jerram, was exhibited emblematic works and other lesser-known works, featuring
at, among others, the National Museum of Scotland approximately 100 paintings, drawings, documents, and
in Edinburgh (2019). It is both a virtual and physical archives in a reinterpretation of one of the most important
exhibition featuring a replica of the moon in 3D. 37 figures in modern art. Magritte: The Treachery of Images
explores the philosophical interest in painting that
5.3. Virtual Visits at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum culminates in the work This is Not a Pipe, where he makes
One of the many examples of museums that have adapted viewers visualize a universe only to affirm its nonexistent
to the new needs of users consuming digital entertainment condition, which gets lost in a discourse that is also empty
is the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the virtual visits and devoid of matter and meaning. 41

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 6 doi: 10.36922/ac.3688