Immersive Van Gogh

Immersive Van Gogh in Chicago.  It was an incredible experience.  It was awe inspiring, breath taking and sad all at the same time.

This was an artist who never knew his true potential or influence.  He was a true example of a tortured soul.  His work seems to be searching for something he never fond.  Some thing lost but never recovered.  

It was such a unique way to experience art, to literally become a part of it.  You sit within the paintings, watching them being created around you, making you a part of the brush strokes, the subjects, the love, the pain.

The immersive experience is being expanded now to include Mozart.  Sitting on the floor of this very unique art space, you will become a part of the notes and the melody, a part of the creation.

The building which houses these immersive experiences in Chicago is as unique as the experience itself.  A place where the Chicago mob met, now turned into a place to experience art in all forms.  A new feeling, a new experience than what was once hosted within the walls.

The immersive experience brings with it a sense of calm and tranquility, allowing the spectator to be lost in the mind of the artist, lost in their creation. The memory will linger for days, weeks, years. Something that cannot be explained or described, but must be experienced.

                      

                 

I was able to experience this with my daughter, Katie (on right), and her friend from college, Jessica (on left). Both of these young ladies are artists, not painters, but artists none the less.

                                                                                                                                                                  

I bought Katie these shoes for Christmas. She is a huge fan of Starry Night by Van Gogh.  A few years before this experience, I had taken her to a museum in Chicago to see an original Van Gogh.  I don't think she breathed the entire time she was looking at the painting.

This is definitely not a look of boredom, but of fascination.  The Van Gogh Immersive experience was truly one of the most incredible things I have witnessed.  

 

 https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/15/business/flip-phone-gen-z-ctrp/index.html

One of my favorite NCIS episodes was when the agency was being hacked, so in order to communicate they were all given flip phones.  Except for Agent Gibbs.  He already had a flip phone.  As a matter of fact, most of the agents had spent several seasons making fun of his antiquated technology, urging him to get with the times. During the course of this particular episode, the agents tried diligently to learn how to answer the phone and then the absolute worse, text on the thing.  Agent Gibbs was enjoying the experience immensely.

And now, Gen Z is coming around to Gibbs' way of thinking.  This generation claims they need to be reminded to stay connected personally and socially instead of just by phone.  So, they are leaving their smart phones at home.  You might inquire why they don't just stay off the phones they have instead of buying new phones.  Why do we buy gym memberships?  To remind us to exercise.  Why don't we just walk?  Or why do I have a stack of post-it-notes? To remind me of the many things I would otherwise forget. If that is what it takes, I applaud the effort.

I look around at restaurants and see couples, families, etc. at tables, all on their phones, no one talking to each other.  When my family is all at home and watching a movie, as soon as the credits roll, the phones come out.  We could discuss the movie, critique it, analyze it, compare it, but we don't.  We go to the phone.  In some cases, the phones come out before the movie ends.  And no matter how good we think we are at multi-tasking, when you are trying to do two things, neither gets our full attention.

So, Gen Z, congratulations.  You have brought back some things I wish you had left in the closet, but I like the idea of bell bottoms and flip phones.  Agent Jethro Gibbs would be proud.