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immersive art experiences

The world’s top immersive art experiences

Technology-driven artworks, mixed reality (MR) playgrounds and secret passageways are just some of the experiences on offer.

Immersive art experiences are a burgeoning trend in the attractions industry, with groups such as Meow Wolf, Culturespaces and teamLab fusing either art and technology, or art and entertainment. Essentially, these immersive attractions display art in new ways, often digitally.

Some locations bring to life famous artworks, others use digital projectors, holography and virtual reality (AR). At some venues, visitors can enjoy secret passageways, interactive art and installation rooms.

We take a look at the very best immersive art destinations ā€“ including Area15, Superblue, Wake the Tiger, and Frameless ā€“ in alphabetical order.

Area15, Las Vegas

area15

Area15, an experiential art and entertainment complex in Las Vegas, is a space for art installations, state-of-the-art technology, retail and F&B. The venue’s art experiences include a permanent gallery called Art Island that showcases artwork inspired by festivals and an ever-changing Japanese maple tree and canopy with more than 5,000 LED lights.

“Itā€™s a cool space; itā€™s entertainment, itā€™s amusement,” said Area15 CEO Winston Fisher. “We are a storytelling company. Itā€™s a word that you hear a lot, though only a few people actually do it with authenticity.”

“With Area15, at the end of the day, weā€™re building an imagination box,” added Fisher. “Itā€™s a place of wonder, a place of excitement, where creativity is not scared to flourish. We donā€™t go for perfection, but for creativity of expression.”

Gallerie 360 Inside The Portal is an immersive audio and visual experience within Area15ā€™s 360-degree projection mapped room, while Shogyo Mujo by Bart Kresa Studio and Joshua Harker is an interactive giant skull covered in 3D projection mapping. The Spine is a dynamic corridor featuring art installations and F&B.Ā 

 

Wink World: Portals to the Infinite comes from Chris Wink, the co-founder of Blue Man Group. The art and entertainment project boasts six infinity mirror rooms, each featuring a production number with black light and dynamic stage effects, as well as the Aliume 3D Psychedelic Art Gallery.

“We set out to design something that has never been built before ā€“ a vast bunker to house the burgeoning experience economy,” said Michael Beneville, chief creative officer at Area15. “By creating and curating best-in-class experiences and partnering with immersive artists and makers at the vanguard of this movement, we have witnessed our vision come to life.”

The Las Vegas-based complex is a collaborative venture between Fisher Brothers and creative agency Beneville Studios. Area15 is opening in Orlando in 2024, and expanding its district in Vegas by 20 acres. The anchor tenant will be aĀ year-round eerie experience from Universal inspired by Halloween Horror Nights.

Fisher said theĀ attraction is going to be ā€œincredible and standoutā€. Universalā€™s Halloween Horror Nights, he told blooloop, is a ā€œ30-year concept that has incredible brand awarenessā€¦ Itā€™s edgy, itā€™s cool, itā€™s fun. Itā€™s the right concept to be part of the Area15 district. Itā€™s exciting.ā€

Artechouse, Miami

artechouse beyond the light

Artechouse first launched in 2017 in Washington, D.C. and now has venues in Miami and NYC. These innovative digital art spaces showcase experiential and technology-driven artworks. Artechouse, which opened in Miami in 2018, merges art, science and technology to stimulate the senses, with guests encouraged to interact with the exhibits.

“Miamiā€™s art culture has really flourished in recent decades,” said Artechouse co-founder Tatiana Pastukhova. “We saw it as an opportunity for a place like Artechouse, where we can open up the dialogue about the future of the arts and introduce people to the arts and technology.”

 

“There are multiple ways of examining the relationship between art, science, and technology. Our focus is the use of technology in the creation of the new media art,” she added. “Living in a highly digital world, our lives are becoming more and more inseparable from the use of technology.”

In summer 2023, Artechouse launched a new exhibition to immerse guests in NASAā€™s galactical data captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. ā€œConceptualized through many collaborative sessions with NASAā€™s team of scientists and specialists, ‘Beyond the LighttakesĀ groundbreaking scienceĀ and data and brings it to life artistically in a way thatā€™s never been done before,ā€ saidĀ Sandro Kereselidze, Artechouseā€™s co-founder and chief creative officer.

Atelier des LumiĆØres, Paris

atelier des lumieres culturespaces immersive art experiences

Culturespaces, the French foundation specialising in immersive art experiences, opened its first digital art museum at Atelier des LumiĆØres, a former foundry in Paris, in April 2018. Founded in 1990 by Bruno Monnier, Culturespaces operates the venue, which surrounds visitors with projected masterpieces by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt.

The group’s mission “is to make art more accessible to a wider and younger public”, said Monnier. “With the creation of our unique inclusive digital experiences, based on video, music and interactivity, we want to invite visitors of all backgrounds for a fascinating immersive journey into the artistic universe.”

Culturespaces expanded its offerings in November 2018 with a second venue in South Korea. The Bunker de LumiĆØres is located in a former bunker on the Pacific island of Jeju. Bassins de LumiĆØres opened in Bordeaux in June 2020, providing an immersive exploration of Klimt and Paul Klee. Their iconic works of art were recreated by digital artists before being brought to life by more than 100 Barco projectors.

 

Bassins de LumiĆØres offers a totally unique, sensory experience, including projected video, light and sound,” said Augustin de Cointet de Fillain, director of Bassins de LumiĆØres. “The mix of the location, the recreated artwork from Klimt and Klee, and the superb image quality of Barco projectors make this exposition an unequalled experience.”

Barco continued its partnership with Culturespaces for Infinity des LumiĆØres at the Dubai Mall. This initially focused on the masterpieces of Van Gogh, as well as Japanese artists Hokusai and Kuniyoshi. “Infinity des LumiĆØres is an inspiring and immersive experiential addition to the UAEā€™s art and culture industry that will attract both residents and visitors from all over the world,” said Catherine Oriol, director of Infinity des LumiĆØres.

In 2022, Culturespaces launched its first venue for immersive art in North America. For its inaugural installation, Hall des LumiĆØres in New York City displayed huge luminescent images of works by Klimt.

Convergence Station, Denver

attractions trends 2022

Convergence Station, the third permanent exhibit by Meow Wolf, opened in Denver in September 2021. The attraction is a mind-bending space for art, portals, rooms and wormholes across several worlds.

The four-storey exhibition is home to more than 70 unique installations, rooms and portals. Offerings include the neon metropolis of C Street, the frozen civilisation of Eemia, the labyrinths of Ossuary, and Numina ā€“ where space-time can be transcended.

 

Three years in the making, Convergence Station contains artworks from 300 creatives, including 110 artists from Colorado. These include Kalyn Heffernan, Christopher Nelson, Everything is Terrible!, Sofie Birkin and Molina Speaks.

ā€œOur most ambitious project to date, the Denver exhibition is bound to bend minds, inspire creativity, and touch hearts when we open our doors this fall,ā€ saidĀ Todd Richins, executive creative producer at Meow Wolf.

In 2019, a new artist-driven dark ride called Kaleidoscape opened at Denverā€™s Elitch Gardens. “I think people want to have these amazing art experiences,” Montoya told blooloop.

Frameless, London

frameless immersive art experience london

Frameless, Londonā€™s first permanentĀ digital art experience, is a space for immersive interpretations of iconic artworks. Rather than just looking at the painting, the venue immerses guests in every brush stroke and every splash of colour. “Weā€™re multi-tech. Each of our galleries is using a different form of technology,” Richard Relton, chief executive atĀ Frameless, told blooloop.

Frameless has plans to launch in major cities across the world over the next five years. The artainment attraction features interactive digital interpretations of iconic masterpieces by CĆ©zanne, Klimt, Kandinsky, Monet, Canaletto and Rembrandt. These are showcased in galleries called ā€˜Beyond Realityā€™, ā€˜Colour In Motionā€™, ā€˜The World Around Usā€™, and ā€˜The Art Of Abstractionā€™.

 

Relton added: “We have over 40 masterpieces now, across four galleries ā€“ 28 different artists. Itā€™s a unique move away from the traditional methodology that has been employed around the industry for the last few years.”

Technology can become outdated quickly,” he continued. ā€œWe wanted to make sure that every aspect of Frameless was future-proofed so it would have longevity and relevance in the years to come.”

House of Eternal Return, Santa Fe

meow wolf's house of eternal return

Meow Wolfā€™s House of Eternal Return is an innovative and imaginative ‘fun-house’ in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. The unique art experience covers 20,000 square feet and was designed by the Meow Wolf collective. It is home to more than 70 rooms of immersive art, as well as secret passages and interactive light and musical objects that guests can play with. The storyline focuses on the Selig family, who disappeared after a forbidden experiment at their Victorian mansion.

Following permanent installations Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Denver, Meow Wolf has expanded to Texas. The Real Unreal launched in July 2023 at the Grapevine Mills shopping mall in Texas. ā€œThe Real Unrealā€™s narrative journey takes a leap through the spaces between universes, and is the first major step in connecting the Meow Wolf story universe,ā€ saidĀ Dale Sheehan, Meow Wolfā€™s senior vice president and executive creative director.

 

ā€œMalls have been such an incredible and weird part of the American story, especially for a lot of us that grew up in the ā€™80s and ā€™90s,ā€ said Meow Wolf founderĀ Vince Kadlubek. ā€œIt is an exciting thought that these spaces could be filled with incredible art and immersive experiences, opening a new era of opportunity for the creative economy.ā€

Omega Mart, Las Vegas

blooloop v-expo 2021

Meow Wolfā€™s second permanent installation, Omega Mart, opened as the anchor space at AREA15 in February 2021. “Whether guests are operating machines in the Factory or transported to the Projected Desert via a trippy portal, Omega Mart is a truly interactive narrative experience,” said Emily Montoya, co-founder of Meow Wolf.

Omega Mart, dubbed ‘Americaā€™s Most Exceptional Grocery’, includes four themed areas and 60 unique environments. It combines purchasable products with art installations, andĀ is more than double the size of Meow Wolfā€™s House of Eternal Return at 52,000 square feet.

It contains interactive art, installation rooms, and portals to other worlds from artists such as Brian Eno, Amon Tobin, Shrine, Beach House and Android Jones. Items on offer at Omega Mart include Whale Song Antiperspirant/Antidepressant, Nebula Loaf, and Americanized Beef.Ā 

 

Additional attractions in this Meow Wolf location include a Tron-inspired office space set in a labyrinth-style maze called Dramcorp and an interactive playground. It also has a bar called Datamosh, as well as an area known as the Projected Desert that takes visitors to psychedelic realms.

In its first year, Omega Mart welcomed 1,000,007 visitors. It also sold 4,555 ā€˜Tattoo Chickenā€™ T-shirts, and more than 3,000 ā€˜Daikon Palsā€™ plush toys.

“The process of creating Omega Mart was a monumental undertaking that sourced the work of 325 artists and collaborators over the course of three years,” said Corvas Brinkerhoff,Ā Meow WolfĀ co-founder and Las Vegas executive creative director.

“Omega Mart is an impressive feat of ingenuity and artful storytelling,” added Meow Wolf CEO Jose Tolosa.

Seismique, Houston

seismique immersive art

Seismique is an innovative and experiential art museum in Houston, Texas. It is billed as a tech-driven ‘intergalactic playground’ with more than 40 unique ‘galaxies’ across 40,000 square feet.

Inhabited by extra-terrestrial beings, the destination features artificial intelligence (AI), immersive experiences, gamification, projection mapping, sculptures of aliens, and “dazzling displays of light, color, and sound”.

Seismique is the brainchild of Steve Kopelman, principal and COO of Escape the Room, the largest escape room company in the US. “Seismique will transport locals and visitors alike to an entirely new and unforeseen universe of creative inspiration and artistic manifestation,” Kopelman said.

“The galaxies are designed to stimulate imagination, heighten curiosity, inspire wonder and, most importantly, deliver an extreme dose of fun.”

 

Seismique also offers spaces for meetings, events, and live performances. To support the local artistic community, 12 of the attractionā€™s 40 galleries were reserved for Houston-based artists. The venue provides technology-driven educational workshops for students from local schools with a focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics).

“Weā€™ll have artists throughout the US,” Kopelman told blooloop. “And weā€™ve reserved at least a quarter of the spaces for Texans and people from our community. I think itā€™s a great stepping-stone to the traditional art gallery. Because most of the artists that will be involved wonā€™t have great notoriety currently.”

“I think weā€™re going to tie in well with the experience economy,” he added. “Especially if we let the artists be artists and do their thing, and give what they feel. And weā€™ll add the technology and put different spins so that people will see something theyā€™ve never seen before.”

Superblue, Miami

superblue miami

Superblue Miami launched in Florida in 2021 with installations including an immersive environment by Es Devlin, a transcendent digital experience by teamLab, and a light-based Ganzfeld work by James Turrell. “Each of these artists provokes us to see our relationship to the world and each other in completely new ways,” said Superblue co-founder and CEO, Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst. “Superblue is at the forefront of how we experience immersive art.”

Superblue allows guests to enjoy art outside of traditional museums and galleries. It was designed to showcase large-scale works that immerse and engage visitors as part of the art experience, with experiential art spread across 50,000 square feet. The venue also includes a flexible programming and events space, as well as an outdoor cafe, called Blue Rider.

James Turrellā€™s AKHU is a large-scale installation that immerses visitors in a room of monochrome lighting, while teamLab: Between Life and Non-Life is a series of interconnected artworks. Es Devlinā€™s Forest of Us begins as a movie. Guests can walk through the film into a mirror maze.

 

Superblue is a new company and venture to support artists and engage audiences with experiential art. It plans to expand its art venues in the US and internationally. “Superblue was created in response to the publicā€™s rapidly growing interest in experiential art that provokes new ways of understanding ourselves and the world around us,” said Marc Glimcher, co-founder of Superblue.

Therme Art, which is part of wellbeing organisation Therme Group, has become a strategic investor in Superblue. Therme Art works with artists and architects to commission and develop projects for wellbeing resorts. The company combines digital art experiences with wellness attractions.

In 2022, Superblue launched an innovative mixed-reality art and gastronomy experience. Dishes included a ā€œmousse of roasted hopesā€ and a ā€œpearl that tastes like the first time you ever bit your lipā€. Also featured was a tart that evokes the ā€œwhistle that the wind makes through a door lock of a cold autumn afternoonā€.

teamLab, Tokyo

teamlab borderless

teamLab is a global group of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, architects and mathematicians. Founded by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab has art experiences in Shanghai, Tokyo and Macao. The group exhibits internationally, exploring the relationship between the self and the world through art.

“Physical media is no longer the limit,” teamLab told blooloop. “Digital technology has made it possible for artworks to expand physically. Art created using digital technology can easily expand. So, it provides us with a greater degree of autonomy within the space. We are now able to manipulate and use much larger spaces.”

teamLab Borderless first opened as a permanent museum in Tokyo in June 2018. This was followed by a teamLab Borderless in Shanghai. teamLab SuperNature Macao soft opened in June 2020 at the Venetian Macao. teamLab Borderless Jeddah is also launching in Saudi Arabia. teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, another permanent location for immersive digital art, is opening on Saadiyat Island.

 

Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, CEO ofĀ Miral, said the new attraction ā€œdemonstrates how Miral is contributing to the evolution of the emirateā€™s cultural landscapeā€. teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will use ā€œcutting-edge immersive technology to interpret environmental phenomenaā€, he added. It will be a ā€œcurated experiential space that influences the incredible architecture around itā€.

Like Superblue, teamLab has also merged art and wellness with TikTok teamLab Reconnect. The experience was an art and sauna exhibition in Tokyo where visitors could experience the artworks while alternating hot saunas and cold baths before entering a neurological state called ‘sauna trance’.

Wake the Tiger, Bristol

The Ice Cave at Wake the Tiger

Wake The Tiger in Bristol, UK is described as an experiential art gallery, interactive theme park and detailed film set. ā€œYou have to see it to believe it,ā€ saidĀ Lak Mitchell, Wake The Tigerā€™s creative director. ā€œWake The Tiger is an abandoned time capsule ofĀ fantastical experiencesĀ just waiting to be discovered.ā€

Wake The Tiger was created by the artistic team behind the Boomtown music festival. Opened in 2022, the attraction includes 27 environments, from underwater worlds, mechanical chambers and hidden passageways to forests, temples and ice caves.

 

Guests enter the world of ā€˜Meridiaā€™ through a portal, where they find an abandoned factory that previously housed a mysterious community of adventurers. The psychedelic space showcases works by more than 100 artists, poets, scenic artists, robotics experts, fabricators, costume makers, architects, videographers and prop makers.

“Weā€™re now open, but the experience will never be finished,” said Graham MacVoy, Wake The Tigerā€™s managing director and co-founder. “Itā€™s got to keep evolving. There are tonnes of bits weā€™re excited about adding. A lot of it will be narrative-based.”

Wisdome LA, Los Angeles

wisdome la

Wisdome LA, billed as the worldā€™s first fully immersive entertainment art park, covers more than 35,000 square feet and offers five enormous domes containing a sensory subjective experience where visitors participate in the immersive narrative. The domes, which were showcased at Burning Man and Coachella, include 360-degree projection mapping.

blooloop spoke to George Aistov, Wisdome LAā€™s art producer, who explained: “We want to inspire people with ideas about the conscious entertainment of the future. We are trying to bring art, music, science, and spiritual ideas to an incredible venue, and shape it in a way that people can experience it as something new.

“Nowadays, everything is about the experience ā€“ donā€™t show me, make me feel it. Donā€™t show me ice cream, let me taste it.”

 

The space opened in 2019 with a visual art exhibition called Samskara. Created by digital artist Android Jones, Samskara included more than 70 works in nine different formats, from digital canvases and dynamic sculptures to live performances and a spherical movie theatre.

“We aim to tell the story without an objective storyline, immersing people in sound and visuals, giving them a deeper experience, and bringing them to catharsis and giving them a deeper experience,” added Aistov. “So what Iā€™m really doing is Iā€™m bringing a viewer to catharsis.”

WNDR Museum, Chicago

wndr museum san diego

Chicago’s WNDR Museum merges art and technology for a multi-sensory experience where visitors can see, hear, touch and smell the exhibits. The space is home to installations by cutting-edge artists, collectives, technologists and designers. Exhibits include Japanese artist Yayoi Kusamaā€™s ā€˜Letā€™s Survive Foreverā€™ ā€“ the first and only Kusama infinity room in the Midwest

WNDR is expanding across the US, with new immersive art experiences now open in San Diego and Seattle, and another heading to Boston. One of San Diego’s exhibits is ā€˜Quantum Mirrorā€™ byĀ Adrian Stein, who describes it as a “structural meditation on modern human consciousness”.

 

“Itā€™s an infinity room with over 150 mirrors that touches on our interaction with technology,” he added. “Our obsession with screens, the way that our self-perception has changed as social media has become more popular in our society.”

The Seattle-based museum features Kusama’s ‘Starry Pumpkin’, a mural by Stevie Shao, an LED ring of light by Patrick Ethen, and an immersive theatre showcasing a curated selection of ever-evolving 360-degree content. It also houses Stein’s ‘Hyper Mirror’ and a ‘Light Floor’ by WNDR.

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Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

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