Beyond Lattepunk
Lattepunk
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Do we need technology to see it?
I recently went to the latest exhibit by Beyond Exhibitions. They do immersive art exhibits on artists that surround you with their works visually while setting the ambiance with music and sounds. They got two artists so far, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. The exhibit was awesome!
The show near me currently splits the exhibit for both artists equally. It starts with you walking into a showroom that has Monet’s pieces on the left and Van Gogh’s on the right. Their iconic pieces also include quotes from the artists as well their life story. It’s cool cause you're encouraged to take your time and take everything in, learning about the two while you go.
That then takes you into the main exhibit, the reason you would pay to go to this, the immersive part. When you walk in you’re immediately surrounded by their art (the show I went to had Van Gogh’s 40 minute exhibit, a 3 minute break, followed by Monet’s 40 minute exhibit. Envision either or, just don’t mix them both together cause that’s not how it went down!), and it hits you instantly. The colors, the sounds, the pieces themselves, all around you. Not just the walls, but under your feet. As if you were standing in the painting.
The pictures are actively painted around you. Some subtlety move, portraits start the blink, the art itself coming to life. If it sounds like I’m paid promoter, I’m telling you reader, I truly enjoyed myself at the exhibit. Not just the art itself, but the loser in me was fascinated at how they made it happen. It was hard to find anything on how it works. I managed to find this article and this article. Although not the detail I was hoping for, it was cool to get some insight nonetheless.
I even found this Forbes interview about the original Beyond Van Gogh Experience when it debuted in 2022. Not only did I think art plus tech would let me enjoy the show, I knew I’d enjoy it cause I actually went to the original experience back in 2022!
I vividly remember praising it to friend after I saw it. He immediately asked me a question that caught me off guard…
Why would you see a show that digitally shows you the art when you can go see the real thing?
My first thought was: fuck you! But before I could relay that wonderfully thought out message, I realized I was taken aback by it. Why didn’t I go see the original art? The Starry Night is one of my favorite, if not THE, paintings. As of writing, it’s sitting at the MoMA in New York. Not an unreasonable trip. What about this show stands out over seeing the classics themselves?
I mean, the setting itself is different. Obviously seeing a photo and being surrounded by it are different. Whereas seeing the original gives you the opportunity to appreciate the talent, seeing it in a different perspective gives you a new way to enjoy a classic. But it could be different strokes for different folks. Some people find walking around looking at pictures boring. This experience can help reach new audiences for these classics, all while introducing the artists story and history to them. That’s how it got me.
But while reliving the Van Gogh portion, then getting lost in the Monet part, this thought crossed my mind again. Why am I doing this instead of seeing the art itself? Is it cause this show tours and comes to me? Who has time and funds to travel the world seeing all this? That seems like a reasonably safe justification. But as one does, I got curious. I have museum not too far from me. It ain’t no MoMA, but it’s a lot closer!
They have a bunch of art pieces there! That caught me by surprise. Something else that caught me by surprise? According to their searchable database, they have 9 Van Gogh paintings and 10 Monet paintings. Seems like I don’t have an excuse anymore. Who would have thought a technology based show would have helped me want to see the real world (though a painting).
things i read
BM Boys: the Nigerian sextortion network hiding in plain sight on TikTok | Katie McQue for The Guardian
These Internal Documents Show Why We Shouldn’t Trust Porn Companies | Nicholas Kristof for NY Times
Your Favorite Porn Stars Are Sick of Being Censored. But They’re Not Going Away | Manisha Krishnan for WIRED
Former Employees, Community Members Allege AbleGamers Founder Fostered Abuse Behind Closed Doors | Grant Stoner for IGN
‘A Billion Streams and No Fans’: Inside a $10 Million AI Music Fraud Case | Kate Knibbs for WIRED
3 Teens Almost Got Away With Murder. Then Police Found Their Google Searches | Raksha Vasudevan for WIRED
The Epic Rise and Fall of a Dark-Web Psychedelics Kingpin | Andy Greenberg for WIRED
At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work | Noam Scheiber for NY Times
Tennessee School Expelled 12-Year-Old Without Proper Threat Assessment | Aliyya Swaby for ProPublica
In a world first, Brazilians will soon be able to sell their digital data | Gabriel Daros for Rest of World
Got any recommendations on paintings to see or articles to read? Email me!
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