www.timeout.com/los-angeles: “We come from the art world and every time I see these [immersive shows], they’re these commercial things,” says Wayne Fernandez, general manager at Magic Box L.A., the event space at Downtown’s the Reef. “You get there and it’s like, I feel my soul being sucked out of me. But you know, we were very careful to make this more than just that.”
5 comments:
I really love this and hope to find the time to go see this. I love street art. All of the pillars beneath where the Jones Falls Expressway dumps into Baltimore City were painted by local artists probably 20+ years ago. I worked in the Baltimore Farmers Market which is held under that portion of the Jones Falls Expressway for roughly twenty years and would always admire the artwork as a child.
I love the vibrancy that seems to be a staple of most of the pieces seen in the article. And honestly, having worked on a farm growing up, seeing the milkcrates everywhere amongst the artwork really speaks to my childhood.
While I do think that there has been an oversaturation of immersive theatre experiences over the course of the last decade, I really think they are here to stay, and with good reason. I love the part theatre/part museum feeling that immersive pieces such as this evoke.
For this article I expected the show to be about the community it was placed in Los ANgeles, but found myself surprised and enjoying the larger aspect of this show, showcasing street art from locations all around the globe to supplement and play off of peoples’ understanding of the art they could see on their own. Something to consider in art is the place that it comes from and the place it is meant to go and what happens when you remove it from that location. There is some art I see in museums or in exhibits that simply was not designed to be there and when it is hung on the wall of the museum next to other pieces of art it loses value, and this exhibit seems like it could be rife for that if done improperly, but the images I see so far keep to the general shape and layout of what a lot of cities look like and so I suspect, and it at lesat feels to me, that this was kept into consideration.
This show seems amazing. I share the sentiment of the author when it comes to the commercialized nature of interactive exhibits like the Van Gogh experience. As much as I enjoyed it, there was still something extremely soul sucking about it. But this seems like a whole new kind of immersive exhibit. The Van Gogh experience left me wanting more in the ways of feasible art and more experience than one on loop video. However, the Street Art Alive exhibit seems to solve that problem. The sections of the Berlin Wall are instantly captivating and interesting, and the recreation of the subway tunnel is an amazing way of bringing some of the "at home" street art into a largely International exhibit. Also the NYC subway houses some of the best examples of street art which makes this part of the exhibit even more perfect. I just love it and wish that I could go to LA and see it.
As someone who has a problem with the growing number of Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, [insert name of some famous dead artist] immersive experience, I’m really interested in this piece. I hate how it feels like money hungry people want to profit off of other people’s work that are now in the public domain by creating instagrammable moments. I can’t get myself to pay 45+ dollars for one of these “shows” but I have heard that they resemble youtube compilation videos of artists' work. I do think that this exhibit in LA is a little bit different. First of all, there seems to be a purpose which is to educate and bring attention to the history of street art in the city which is so impactful. Additionally, they worked alongside the artists they are showcasing and made them integral to the process while also respecting wishes. It seems less lazy and more like an actual curated art exhibit.
The news that Street Art Alive is splashing colorful, Digital murals in Los Angeles is very positive and shows the shift in presenting artwork by synthesizing different emerging technologies to create new experiences. It was very interesting to read the quote from Wayne Fernandez, the general manager at Magic Box La, the event space where the new digital murals take place. He talks about the increased commercialization of new art experiences and how immersive experiences have recently exploited the artists in which they present the work. This reminds me a lot of the recent Van Gogh experience which to me was just a cheap commercial venture where Van Goghs work was just slapped across the walls for audience members to see. I think that this new immersive Street Art Alive in Los Angeles will have more nuance than other immersive ventures currently. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch in on Los Angeles this summer and see how well they are able to pull of this experience myself. I love Street Art and this article really draws my attention with the specifics of the experience.
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