I have researched and comprised a list of immersive art installations and experiences which also host hospitality settings serving food and drinks. I am looking to contact these venues to ask if it would be possible to test my ideas and concepts in their spaces. Additionally, I am looking to visit some of these spaces over the coming days to gain inspiration for my ideas as well a knowledge into the practicalities of how immersive events are being run in these instances.
‘Terra Nexus’
- 25 artists coming together to create a maze of immersive micro-installations on the South Bank, all about ecology.
- immersive art with a message, so you can lose yourself and better yourself at the same time
- Unfortunately, this event stopped running on the 30th June.
- But I am still going to contact the organisers to ask about collaborating on further events they may be involved in alongside how they felt the event went and if there was anything they would change for future events, so I can aim to learn from their experiences.
(Art Rabbit, 2021) and (Proposition Studios, 2021)
Yayoi Kusama
- Arguably the most famous immersive art experience in London at the moment is Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms.
- Sadly, tickets are currently sold out and so I am unable to visit this exhibition.
- However, it is being hosted at the Tate Modern which also homes the River Terrace serving food and drink and so I will contact them to enquire about testing in their spaces.
(Tate Britain, 2021)
Heather Phillipson
- Hosted in Tate Britain’s enormous Duveen Galleries with a huge, free installation where viewers can meet mutant creatures and abandoned chunks of rotting technology, accompanied by enticing lighting schemes.
- Rupture No 1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach’ is at Tate Britain until January 23rd 2022.
- The technology utilised in this immersive experience coupled with Tate Britain’s Djanogly cafe facilities could help to host a type of natural immersive eating experience strengthening people’s connection to nature.
- Tate Britain does usually host a restaurant as well as this cafe, but that is closed at present. Looking to the future, if this restaurant reopens I will certainly contact them with regards to testing my project ideas.
- Therefore, I plan on visiting this exhibition and talking to the organisers to see if there could be an opportunity to test my ideas in any capacity to utilise these facilities.
(Tate, 2021)
Ryoji Ikeda
- Ryoji Ikeda’s biggest ever European show sends viewers through room after room of stunning light and sound installations.
- The instillation is at 180 The Strand until the 1st August 2021
- I will contact The Strand to discover more about their hospitality facilities to see if it would be possible to test my ideas there, as there is little mention of food and drink facilities on their website.
(180 The Strand, 2021)
Van Gogh
- The immersive experience of Van Gogh’s work is being held at 106 Commercial Street in a 19th century stable building, opposite Old Spitalfields Market
- The exhibition features two storey projections in 360 degrees, with virtual reality sparking real interaction
- It is run by Fever and Exhibition Hub, which I will contact looking to collaborate in testing my ideas with similar technologies they have utilised here but naturally on a smaller scale to begin with.
- From what I can tell the exhibition doesn’t host an hospitality facilities, but the technology utilised to create the event could be incredibly beneficial in how to approach hosting a similar experience for my project
(Van Gogh Expo, 2021)
Camden Art Centre
- This art centre presents a slightly smaller venue which it may be more possible to test in
- There are strong community ties and an ethos of connecting to everyone’s creativity, which offer a potentially strong engagement in my work
- The centre hosts a cafe alongside a garden space, which would serve as a brilliant premises for testing immersive natural instillations around the food, and so I am going to get in contact with the centre to explore any testing opportunities there
(Camden Art Centre, 2021)
Sadly, many of the smaller galleries I have found with immersive exhibitions don’t host hospitality spaces which presents an issue as the don’t fit my criteria needed for a testing environment. This applies to spaces such as: Work Gallery, October Gallery, Free Space Gallery and many more.
Reflection
I will continue to research further immersive experiences across London, especially those which also host hospitality facilities. I aim to visit Tate Britain tomorrow to view the Heather Phillipson exhibit and I will post an update on my visit on my blog afterwards. Whilst I acknowledge it may be difficult to test my concepts with such large institutions as the Tate, I do feel contacting them is beneficial to gaining greater knowledge and inspiration into the practicalities of creating immersive events; and may even lead to contacts which will allow me to test. I feel that targeting the hospitality settings in these large institutions should provide a little leeway into being able to test in the spaces, rather than direclty asking to utilise their exhibition spaces. Targeting the cafes in this way may also be beneficial to them as it may attract greater customers to the spaces who would otherwise have stuck to only visiting the exhibitions. In a way, testing my concepts in the cafe turns the cafe into an exhibition and experience in itself.
I am very excited to explore this avenue further in my project, as I feel such immersive experiences are gaining a lot of traction in their own right around London at the moment. Therefore, combining my quest to connect people to nature with an immersive experience encapsulating the senses and evoking the benefits of biophilic environments could create vastly effective change and engage a multitude of people. Consequently, I am very hopeful exploration into this area may provide some fruitful insights and findings. Even if it does result that utilising technology is not the most effective way to connect people with nature, I am hopeful this avenue will at the very least help to engage venues and customers that may have otherwise been disinterested in a project looking to bring nature into spaces in a more traditional and physical sense.
I feel that supper clubs and further restaurant pop-ups will also be good spaces to host these technological tests to connect to nature and os they may be perfect venues, interested in such an immersive art and nature fusion of experience. Therefore, I will also look to contact supper clubs and more pop-up restaurants in the future.
Bibliography
Art Rabbit (2021) “Terra Nexus” Art Rabbit [Online] https://www.artrabbit.com/events/terra-nexus-proposition-studios Accessed 01/07/21
Camden Art Centre (2021) “Welcome” Camden Art Centre [Online] https://camdenartcentre.org Accessed 01/07/21
HackneyWicked
Proposition Studios (2021) “Terra Nexus” Proposition Studios [Online] https://www.propositionstudios.com/terra-nexus Accessed 01/07/21
Van Gogh Expo (2021) “Van Gogh the Immersive Experience” Van Gogh [Online] https://vangoghexpo.com/london/?utm_content=van-gogh-exhibition-london&utm_source=secretldn&utm_medium=post&utm_term=cta3 Accessed 01/07/21
Tate Britain (2021) “Tate Britain Commission, Heather Phillipson, Rupture No 1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach” Tate Britain [Online] https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/heather-phillipson Accessed 01/07/21
Tate (2021) “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms” Tate [Online] https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirror-rooms Accessed 01/07/21
180 The Strand (2021) “Exhibitions: Ryoji Ikeda” The Strand [Online] https://www.180thestrand.com Accessed 01/07/21