by Bernie English
LIMEICK people are the third biggest culture-vultures in the country, if numbers attending a unique exhibition in Dublin are anything to go by.
Since opening in May in the RDS Dublin, ‘Van Gogh Dublin – An Immersive Art Journey’ have welcomed over 75,000 visitors from every corner of the country, all making the trip to Dublin in order to experience the all-digital, hands-free, immersive exhibition.
Based on attendance figures and information gathered about where visitors have come from, Limerick had the third highest number of attendees after Dublin itself and Cork.
The 20,000 square-foot light and sound spectacular is an Irish first, and the team behind it say current sales estimates predict a total of 100,000 guests will have been immersed in Van Gogh’s most famous works by the final showing on August 4.
The event was masterminded by Irish company Theatre of Light, who recruited multi-award-winning, renowned international creative studio Nohlab to bring their immersive visions to life.
Nohlab created a unique journey whereby visitors experience audio-visual storytelling at its best while being completely submerged in Van Gogh’s history and artwork in an advanced digital format. The ‘art journey’ actually goes beyond Van Gogh, to two other multisensory displays of digital artwork, that both challenge and amaze the mind, completing the RDS based experience. The likes of which have never been enjoyed in Ireland before
Speaking about bringing this Irish-first to life, Co-Founder, Daniel Gleeson said. “We’re amazed at the thousands and thousands of people who travelled from every corner of the country to experience this immersive art journey.
“At every showing we meet people and families who made a day trip to Dublin for this, as their interest for a unique art experience like this in Ireland is so high. With just over one week left before we close, we are looking forward to greeting people from all over the country one last time before we wrap up.”
“The launch of Van Gogh Dublin was two years in the planning and orchestrating Ireland’s largest ever Immersive art exhibition, during covid, presented many challenges. The team who supported Theatre of Light in bringing a show of this scale to Ireland did an exceptional job, considering most of the planning was done over Zoom calls.”
The immersive art journey quickly became a firm Irish celebrity favourite, with stars like Donal Skehan, Rosanna Davison (who attended with her dad Chris de Burgh), presenters such as Ray D’arcy, and international music sensation James Vincent McMorrow all attending.
The visual magnificence of the journey also very quickly established it as an Influencer’s ideal content creation opportunity. Top Irish social media stars such as James Kavanagh, Dominique Nugent, Julie Haynes, Conor Moore, Anouska and Holly Carpenter all attended, showing themselves surrounded by the swirling and moving art to their hundreds of thousands of followers.
TV Presenter and Instagram Star Glenda Gilson said of the experience:
“It was absolutely amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it. We had two young kids with us, and they just loved it, chasing the moving art and colours all around them and on the floor. But equally as adults we loved it from an art appreciation perspective, the way they can bring Van Gogh’s works to life like this is so impressive. A brilliant family day out.”
The Immersive Art Journey has only until Thursday next week (August 4) until its run ends in the RDS. However, the Irish brothers behind the mind-bending experience have big future plans for what they have now created. Daniel Gleeson says: “From flying around the world to research other impressive immersive art journeys overseas, to employing some of the most renowned digital artists in the world to bring this to life, to finally opening in the RDS, this has been a once in a lifetime experience for us. Right now we’re in that exciting phase of deciding where to open next.”
If you are yet to attend ‘Van Gogh – An Immersive Journey’ in the RDS, you only have until Thursday, August 4th to do so. The team are running super sale offers on all of the below slots, so be sure to nab one of these discounts before they wrap up.
Discounts are available for Friday July 29 to Sunday 31 for the 4 pm to 9 pm shows.
Booking at vangoghdublin.com. More information is available on the Van Gogh Dublin Instagram account @vangoghdublinrds.
