![]() Van Gogh is instead the artist as expresser who conveys the singularity of his own feeling-simply put, the kind of artist most people encounter in their everyday life, and the archetype motivating children’s pedagogy, art therapy, and, of course, mass culture. The artistic mythos van Gogh personifies, all self-harm and social alienation, is a bygone model for serious practice, now supplanted by the artist as critic, as researcher, or as spokesperson. Given his persistent association with feeling above all, van Gogh is an artist whose resurgence could be said to herald a return of the repressed. But the conjoining of two words usually in mutual opposition, “digital experience,” hints at something deeper in the Immersive Van Gogh Industrial Complex, a desire for authentic feeling within even the most rationalized of technologies. Perhaps more strongly than any “serious” artistic project, these installations synthesize the Conceptualist program of dematerialization with the irreducible, affective singularity of the artist.Īt first blush, the current van Gogh moment could be chalked up as an easy win for the culture industry-as the critic Ben Davis has acknowledged, the experiences function in part as a balm for lockdown-weary audiences eager for artistic edification yet dependent on the familiarity of the screen. Other divertissements abound, including a VR segment in TIE and a gift shop almost equal in size to the projection room in IVG. ![]() Mercilessly constant music accompanies both enterprises, whether classical composers like Debussy or pop: In one gloriously arbitrary moment in IVG, Edith Piaf’s “ Non, je ne regrette rien” soundtracks the earthy Sower of 1888. IVG distributes its projections across two antechambers and one large hall, also reflecting images onto abstract sculptures arranged throughout the space. TIE situates the action in a central area, preceding it with a hallway containing wall texts, a full-scale diorama of The Bedroom, 1888, and facsimiles of several beloved paintings. Both attractions continuously project and animate canonical van Gogh paintings, at times greatly expanding a work’s dimensions, replicating a certain detail across the entirety of a wall, or modifying a motif or scene so that it locomotes (the skull in Head of Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette, 1886, actually takes a drag). New York City is currently host to dueling van Gogh experiences, a corporate rivalry that “Immersive Van Gogh” addressed in a now unavailable web page comparing itself (favorably) to “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience.” “Immersive Van Gogh” (IVG, if you will) occupies a warehouse on the banks of the East River near the Manhattan Bridge “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” (TIE) has taken up residence in a complex blocks from the World Trade Center. In light of these concerns, the items will no longer be sold in our stores.View of “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” 2021. The items in question form a small fraction of those made available as part of the exhibition collection. ![]() ![]() It was never The Courtauld’s intention to present an insensitive or dismissive attitude to this important subject by stocking these items. The gallery says in a statement: “The Courtauld takes mental health extremely seriously. The rubber ear and the soap, which can still be bought on other websites, accompany the current critically acclaimed exhibition Van Gogh Self-Portraits (until 8 May). The items-an eraser in the shape of a ear costing £6 and a £5 bar of soap described as “ideal for the tortured artist who enjoys fluffy bubbles”-first went on sale on 3 February but have now been withdrawn. The Courtauld Gallery in London has removed two items from its gift shop and online retail platform relating to the artist Vincent Van Gogh after some arts commentators claimed that the products belittled mental health issues. ![]()
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