Lance McMillan | Narcity
Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience was developed by Montreal's Normal Studio and took over 10,000 hours to create. The immersive exhibit weaves Claude Monet's own words throughout the installation with quotes and excerpts.
It spans over 50,000 square feet and transforms the space into a living, breathing museum of art, with immersive music, animation and light. The oval layout of the exhibit is modelled after the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, which was designed specifically for Monet.
The first room acts as an educational guide, with Monet's works hung from the ceiling on strips of fabric and information about his art hung alongside them. Throughout the exhibit, well-known works such as "Water Lilies," "Impression: Sunrise," and "Poppies" can be spotted.
Lance McMillan | Narcity
The room is bathed in red and blue light, and as you walk through, you can read about Monet's life while taking in his art in a new form.
Throughout the room, there are bridges you can walk over, and placed underneath them are reflective circles that mimic water, allowing you to peer below and view an inverted version of the exhibit.
Once you've had your fill of educational materials, you can move on to the immersive portion of the exhibit.
However, to get to the final immersive room, you have to walk through a tunnel of light.
Lance McMillan | Narcity
The long path is blacked out with curtains and decorated with streamers that reflect the everchanging stream of colourful lights.
The final room is an open-space-concept area with floor-to-ceiling animated projections of hundreds of Monet's artworks. Reflective circles are placed throughout the floor, some acting as seating, and the room itself is centred around a raised gazebo.
Lance McMillan | Narcity
Visitors can leisurely lounge on the gazebo or reflective seats and watch Monet's artwork come to life before them as the exhibit seems to melt and shift from artwork to artwork effortlessly, with timed music swelling in the background.
Félix Fradet-Faguy, video designer, multimedia director, and videographer for Normal Studios, told Narcity that, "the vision was to kind of tell the story of Claude Monet but from a [21st century] perspective. So we were trying to give a new look to what people have seen everywhere."
Fradet-Faguy said what makes the exhibit unique is that they "were not trying to just show major artwork but [...] were trying to tell the story of those artworks. But at the same time, tell who Monet was."
Beyond Monet
Lance McMillan | Narcity
Price: $39.99+ per adult
When: Opening August 12, 2021
Address: 255 Front St. W., Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: To learn more about Claude Monet and experience his art in an immersive one-of-a-kind setting.
Website
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