Art gets an immersive, interactive coat of paint

The Future. Museums that are immersive and interactive — even when showing the work of centuries-old masters — are attracting major investment from venture capitalists. The trend shows that people may be craving experiences that bring them into movable, changeable works that also provide cultural currency when posted on socials.

VR Van Gogh
Why just sit and appreciate a beautiful painting when you can be inside of it.

• Investors are funneling money into “immersive, interactive museum-like spaces” that bring to life the work of both classic painters and forward-thinking, conceptual artists.
• Immersive Van Gogh experiences are selling millions of tickets around the world.
• Art collective Meow Wolf just opened its biggest installation yet, Convergence Station, in Denver, CO.
• Experiential art centers, like Fotografiska and Superblue, are exploding in popularity and expanding into different cities.

Appreciation experiences
It’s not hard to imagine that these installations are the next evolution of the Instagram “museums” that have popped up in recent years in cities like L.A. and NYC, such as the Museum of Ice Cream and the Color Factory. These places started as little more than cool places to take Insta-friendly photos, but have morphed into go-to tourist destinations.

Beyond a cool photo, the trend reveals the burgeoning value of the “experience economy.” Increasingly, people want experiences that provide in-the-moment entertainment value as well as photogenic digital value, even after they go home. These museums are essentially vibe centers that are first curated for you… and then curated by you for your followers.