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Arts & Communication Reflecting on art through virtual exhibitions

5.7. Impressionists on the Water through digital technology, could recreate rain indoors.

This virtual exhibition was displayed at the Philadelphia Spectators felt as though they were walking in the rain
Museum of Art (2017). It presented a collection of works without getting wet. Thanks to sensors that stopped the
by Impressionist artists with water as the theme and water when the visitor approached, they had the sensation
garnered over 200,000 online visits. This exhibition had of being able to “control” the rain. It was a project by
previously been displayed at the Fine Arts Museum of San Random International that invited spectators to reflect on
Francisco in 2013, where the landscape of the bay, in both the role of science, technology, and human interaction in
its physical and cultural aspects, was related to the work of the environment by creating a choreography in which the
French Impressionists, with their love for the sea, as well as visitor becomes both creator and actor. This exhibition
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for the regattas that were so popular in the late 19 century. was limited to small groups—only 10 people at a time—
Centers such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National to enable people to fully enjoy the experience. As often
Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Nationalmuseum in seen in immersive reality exhibitions, spectators were
Stockholm, and the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo in encouraged to upload their videos and photos to various
the Netherlands lent their best works for this exhibition, platforms to be part of the exhibition’s marketing, under
which featured a total of 85 works by pre-Impressionists, the hashtag #RainRoom, and they appeared in live streams
Impressionists, and post-Impressionists, including the at MoMAPS1.org/expo1. Its success has been resounding,
following: Charles-François Daubigny, Claude Monet, with over 100,000 visitors. 44
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Camille 5.10. Sensory Seas and Sensory Odyssey
Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac,
Théophile van Rysselberghe, and Pierre Bonnard. Viewers This exhibition was displayed at the ArtScience Museum
observed how Impressionists of the stature of Gustave in Singapore (2019). This immersive virtual exhibition
Caillebotte, Claude Monet, or Paul Signac often sailed and used digital technology to create a sensory experience
even owned boats, which explains not only their passion that simulated a journey through the ocean, from the
for water but also the level of detail they applied in each coral reef to the ocean abyss. Visitors could walk through
of their paintings. In addition, viewers could admire two interactive installations and observe virtual marine
full-sized and six model boats, which demonstrated the creatures. Currently, they can experience Sensory Odyssey
importance of navigating the waters in the artistic and with images recorded in 8K resolution and sounds
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social landscape of 19 -century France. 42 that transport them within the various ecosystems and
landscapes they aim to recreate. Its premiere at the French
5.8. Van Gogh: Life and Work Museum of Natural History repeats the formula, leaving
This virtual exhibition was displayed at the Atelier the spectator speechless before an incredibly vivid natural
des Lumières in Paris in 2019. It was designed with spectacle. 45
projections, accompanied by music, and welcomed over 1 5.11. Dreams of Dali
million visitors. Along 1500 m of walls in a former iron
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foundry on the outskirts of Paris, in a 35-min itinerary, This virtual exhibition was displayed at the Salvador
spectators contemplated over 2,000 projections of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (2016). It used
artist’s works, accompanied by light and sound, depicting technology to create an immersive experience in the
his residences in Paris, Arles, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, work of the famous Spanish surrealist artist Salvador
and Auvers-sur-Oise. Works such as The Potato Eaters Dali. Visitors could “enter” some of the artist’s works and
(1885), Sunflowers (1888), The Bedroom (1889), and Starry explore their details in a virtual environment, accessing a
Night (1889) immersed visitors in the canvas through dreamlike world of deserts, towers, fantastic animals, and
360-degree projections, leaving no space uncovered and clocks where one can imagine the painter as a precursor of
creating a sensation of being “inside the painting” as a digital era that he would undoubtedly have adopted. In
vividly as possible, in a space suitable for what is already addition, this exhibition combined the more “traditional”
called a “spectacle” through a process called AMIEX (Art part of museum exhibition, under the name The Shape
& Music Immersive Experience). In 2020, this exhibition of Dreams, bringing together works from the 16 to the
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was presented as a complement to Monet, Renoir, Chagall: 20 centuries from museums such as the National Gallery,
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Journey to the Mediterranean. 43 Detroit Institute of Arts, New Orleans Museum of Art, St
Louis Art Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
5.9. Rain Room Garden, Chicago Art Institute, and Metropolitan Museum
This exhibition was set at the Museum of Modern Art in of Art, as well as works by Giorgio de Chirico, Jackson
New York (2012) and was an interactive installation that, Pollock, and Frida Kahlo with the thread of dreams. This

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 7 doi: 10.36922/ac.3688