And Now for Something Completely Different; Classic Art On Speed...

Described as an immersive multimedia exhibition "From Monet to Kandinsky" is on show here, from 26 April to 31 July at River City Bangkok.

Originally started in Berlin in 2017, this showcase brings to life more than 1,500 art works by notable artists such as Van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Wassily Kandinsky, and Edgar Degason on a large HD screen projection with a quality surround sound system.

This is more or less the promo blurb and I was intrigued when I first read about it, seemed like a great idea to showcase classic art in a new way to people, especially to those not familiar with the main art movements of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Therefore yesterday I decided to have a look and went to the 2nd floor of River City complex. The entrance is well set up with huge posters in English and Thai plus some art reproductions of each of the 16 artists. Text though was upon closer look rather limited to a few paragraphs in large print, easier to digest I guess.

After entering the main hall you can either relax/lie down on a cushy bean bag or - if unlucky - sit on the floor and watch the show.

The music was well suited to the art and changed from artist to artist, but after a while I started getting some serious doubts about this method.

The whole idea of appreciating art is taking your time having a good look at an artwork, especially paintings, let it slowly sink in and make you wonder about the colors, composition, the artist, his/her meaning for painting it, etc.

Here however the visitor is being bombarded by a constant movement of bits and pieces of art, paintings that transform into other paintings, which at times reminded me more and more of some my ancient drug experiences, acid anyone?!

And with some of the artists, like Paul Klee, the speed of moving images was increased dramatically to hyper active levels…

I like to think the intentions of the people behind this multimedia experience were OK, introduce art in new ways and attract a new, younger audience.

However I can’t escape the feeling that anyone who will see the originals (or at least good reproductions) afterwards will be disappointed as these are completely ’static’ compared to the riot of sound, colors and movement shown here…

Of course for those of you who are already familiar with the artists it will show you them in a very different way but whether that’s a positive experience, well, that’s up to you to decide…

By the way, I truly hope I’m completely wrong with my impressions, any method to encourage appreciation of classic art is highly welcome, but whether this one does that…, I’m not sure at all.

Almost forgot, bring some warm clothes with you, it is bloody cold inside. On the other hand the bean bags are very comfortable and I’m almost positive some visitors had fallen asleep on them….