Vincent van Gogh immersive experiences have lately drawn millions of visitors worldwide to massive light-filled digital art projections. Recent van Gogh experiences (about 40 across the U.S. that are produced by competing companies) have lit up New York, San Francisco and beyond. 

“We just passed 3.2 million tickets sold, which, as I understand it, makes it the most successful attraction in the world on Ticketmaster,” Corey Ross, president of Toronto-based Lighthouse Immersive and one of the producers behind “Immersive Van Gogh,” told Kriston Capps on CityLab.

Now the first museum for immersive art in Switzerland is opening with a world premiere: Viva Frida Kahlo – Immersive Experience. The preparations for this immersive enactment of the life and work of Frida Kahlo have been two years in the making. The exhibition will be unveiled on September 22 at the new Lichthalle MAAG in Zurich. It will be the first time that the life and work of the iconic Mexican artist will be presented in an immersive format outside of Mexico.

Kahlo’s expressive paintings, with their accessible symbolism and colourful, exotic plants and animals, as well as her powerful self-portraits, are the perfect templates for an immersive presentation with video projections and light and sound effects. Visitors will experience Frida Kahlo’s life and work on a completely new level via panoramic projection.

“Viva Frida Kahlo – Immersive Experience” offers an insight into the tragic life of the Mexican artist and her creations. Her pictures come to life in the projections, while a voice-over playing the role of Frida Kahlo comments on the events and a specially composed soundtrack paints the presentation's acoustic background. The new Lichthalle MAAG uses high-performance projectors to project images onto walls, columns, ceilings and floors up to 10 metres tall and 34 metres wide, making it a 360° experience.