By Emerson Luchesi

Technology has transformed our entire experience and world’s perception through innovations that derives from technological and digital means innovations, including the sectors of Culture and Art. Today, our experience as art lovers is not restricted to the visual appreciation of a work, like a painting, sculpture, projection or installation. Technological innovations have broadened our experiences and provided us with immersion and interaction in unknown “places” so far.

Have you ever imagined appreciating a work of art not just visually, but contemplating it by activating other senses such as hearing, touch and even, in some cases, smell? This is possible thanks to projection technology that allows the immersive exhibitions construction that, in addition to bringing us closer to artistic works, arouse an interest in the History of Art, the lives of artists and the techniques used by them in us.

The video mapping is one of these innovative tools that give us new meanings that art is technology, a mapped projection technique that consists of projecting videos on any type of surface, providing the appreciator an immersive and interactive experience so that one can contemplate a work of art in three or more dimensions. A true dive into art!

The Museu da Imagem e Som – MIS  (Image and Sound Museum), is a space that has stood out with this new technology, a Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of the Government of the State of São Paulo’s institution that already has 52 years of history dedicated to the preservation of oral, image and sound Brazilian and international history.

MIS is considered one of the largest cultural centers in the city of São Paulo and offers cultural programs such as dance, cinema, music and photography, in addition to major national and international exhibitions.

Renan Daniel, the cultural manager at MIS, says that due to the international trend towards large-scale projections and expanded exhibitions, the idea of the MIS Experience came up with the aim of transforming a huge place with restricted use into a new cultural space for  São Paulo, in 2019.

Renan also points out that immersive exhibitions have already been held in several places around the world, with great success, which reveals a very interesting tendency to communicate with the public. As it is configured as a new, broad and large-scale cultural space, the MIS supports this type of content and exposure reception.

MIS Experience: art, culture and technology

The new space – MIS Experience – opened in 2019 with the exhibition “Leonardo Da Vinci – 500 anos de um gênio”  (“Leonardo Da Vinci – 500 years of a genius”). The museum’s cultural manager says that the content occupied three separate exhibitions: one on the equipment and objects that Leonardo Da Vinci created and developed; another part that was the immense Da Vinci with the mapped and immersive projections, and a third composed of the Monalisa’s x-ray. “We composed the exhibition ‘Da Vinci – 500 anos de um gênio’  (‘Da Vinci – 500 years of a genius’), and it was a great success, both the theme and the opportunity to have contact with this trend of immersive and giant exhibitions that called the public’s attention and made of the exhibition a great attraction”, emphasizes the manager.

Asked about the inspiration for the first immersive exhibition at the museum, Renan says that practically all the exhibitions that arise with this trend of immersive and mapped projections are naturally inspired by the  Atelier des Lumières, which is one of the forerunners of the immersive trend that began in the south of France and then it arrived in Paris, when the idea really exploded and the whole world got to know this new way of creating exhibitions, offering an immersive environment thanks to technology.

Renan also comments that the material for the immersive exhibitions with video mapping is prepared by a content developer based on the theme being worked on. In Leonardo Da Vinci’s case, it was developed by international partners and adapted for its placement at MIS space here in Brazil. “Of course, this impacts the proportions a little, but they are corrected by a technician who adjusts for the space. The Da Vinci exhibition content, for example, was prepared by Australian partners”, he mentions.

In 2022, the MIS Experience hosted a major exhibition by Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari. With the resumption of exhibitions, the museum wanted to invest in a production that dealt with Brazilian content, featuring works by a great artist from the country. In this sense, the objective was to offer a new experience through an immersive, interactive exhibition to the visitors that would take them to a different relationship with the work of Brazilian art, horizontalizing the knowledge about who Portinari was.

Immersion in Brazilian art

In addition, Renan points out that it is very important to highlight a Brazilian artist, praising the work of a genuinely modern national icon, especially because this year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Modern Art Week. “The exhibition was a contribution that served several fronts with a very satisfactory meeting in being able to pay homage to a Brazilian artist from São Paulo, and celebrate him along with the centenary of the Modern Art Week, as well as inaugurating an authorial project of MIS Experience with a Brazilian theme. All these factors contributed to the exhibition success”, he highlights.

The exhibition also had a significant number of visitors and a large number of schools booking guided tours, revealing a great reception of spectators to glimpse the work of a great icon of Brazilian art.

According to the MIS cultural manager, the immersive experience has already become a trend in the world. The difference, according to him, lies in how the spaces offer this experience to their visitors. “It wasn’t enough to go in alone and marvel at Portinari’s work in giant projections, it was essential that there was a contextualization about him, a contextualization about the Portinari Project, which is why the exhibition already carried an interesting differential”, he highlights.

“These are projects that are not restricted exclusively to projection for the sake of projection, they are contextualized in a cultural and entertainment experience”, he reveals.

 Keep an eye on MIS Experience exhibition schedule of 2023: https://misexperience.org.br/