When the tickets for Van Gogh 360° Bengaluru exhibition opened online for bookings, it was expected to garner a lot of attention. But little did the organisers know that was that they would sell their tickets like hot cakes.

After a tremendous response in Mumbai and New Delhi, the immersive exhibit Van Gogh 360° made heads turn at the Bhartiya Mall of Bengaluru. The exhibit also travelled to other cities in India to a packed audience wherever they went.

Using cutting-edge projection technology crafted by world-renowned audio-visual designers, Van Gogh 360° crafted an engaging journey into the world of the legendary post-Impressionist painter. Art lovers were spotted immersed in stunning projections animating the masters’ oeuvre and illuminating the mind of the genius. Wandering through giant projections that highlight brushstroke, detail, and colour, the multimedia exhibit takes the attendee into a three-dimensional world that exhilarates the senses.

This immersive event brought the eye-popping colours of Vincent Van Gogh’s most iconic works to life. Using cutting-edge projection technology crafted by world-renowned audio-visual designers, Van Gogh 360° Bengaluru will create an engaging journey into the world of the legendary post-Impressionist painter accompanied by an original classical instrumental score composed by a Canadian composer. Kunal Khambhati, head live events and IP, BookMyShow said, “Van Gogh 360° experience has emerged as an intriguing and widely embraced Intellectual Property, captivating the interest of a diverse demographic.”

Immersive experiences that turn the walls and floors of an exhibition space into a kind of Van Gogh dream world have popped up around the world from New York to London to Tokyo to Toronto, and Van Gogh 360° India is the first such exhibition to debut in the country.

Art lovers immersed in stunning projections – achieved through dozens of projectors and high-powered computer servers that deliver crisp and compelling images – animating the masters’ oeuvre and illuminating the mind of the genius. Wandering through giant projections that highlight brushstroke, detail, and colour, the multimedia exhibit takes the attendee into a three-dimensional world that exhilarates the senses.

Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter who is one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art. Van Gogh’s innovation was in the boundless emotional nakedness rendered through his paintings and the new artistic interpretation of the form, colour symbolism, and brushstroke expression, which defined some of his most famous works, such as The Starry Night.

Here’s Provoke Lifestyle in conversation with Mark Monahan, the organiser behind the travelling show Van Gogh 360°…

How many countries and cities is Van Gogh 360° exhibition travelling to?
This exhibition was first showcased in Canada and then brought to India.

Is it exactly the same in all the countries?
Except a few minor updates that we make with each edition, it’s the same concept and show.

Who is the curator? Who is behind the thought and execution of the Van Gogh 360° travelling exhibition?

This is a proprietary IP, so we can’t go into minute detail of how it all came together. But there are definitely a few details we can share!

We had heard about several Van Gogh exhibits that were touring. After seeing one of them, we reached out to a very talented animator group who we had worked with on another project. In discussing what we saw with them, they felt they could create something very special. The way they envisioned the sequencing and more importantly interpretated Van Gogh’s art – using a mix of well-known pieces and some lesser-known pieces spanning Van Gogh’s entire body of work – all set to an original soundtrack. And that’s how Van Gogh 360º was developed.

The immersive experience was created over more than an eight month period and the original classical instrumental score has been composed by a Canadian composer.

Lot of focus was on Van Gogh’s mental health in the immersive Van Gogh 360° first room tour. Was it because of a deep connection that’s happening around the world because in the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam there’s not so much focus on the same.

Van Gogh’s emotional health affected his art a great deal. From using the colours he did because of the medication he was on, or the way he felt or saw people and scenes around him, contributed greatly to his work. His tragic death and the last words that he is said to have uttered, “The sadness will last forever”, is as much as a part of his legacy as his paintings.

If we talk about connecting art and life…How would you like to connect the dots?
An exhibition like Van Gogh 360 encourages people to engage with art in a new format where there are no restrictions, and I think immersive exhibitions have become so popular because they allow for the human, emotional story to be told in a more accessible format.

How has the feedback been from some of the art connoisseurs in various places that the Van Gogh 360° exhibition has travelled to?
We have received such tremendous response from all quarters. People from different walks of life, of all ages have loved the experience. While we knew that such formats existed and were popular, we have truly been blown away by the response in India.

Who are the other artists you’re planning to bring in the future?
We are very keen on bringing to life the world of other great painters, including Indian artists, in a similar format.