Berlin art shows turn Monet and da Vinci into immersive experiences

In the digital art world, immersive experiences are the order of the day. In museums around the world, visitors are being asked to don virtual reality headsets or explore exhibition spaces made of walls of LEDs responding to their movements.

Berlin is now doubling down on this interactive art trend with two exhibitions bringing big names into virtual worlds from January onwards. The focus is on French impressionist Claude Monet and Italian inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Until March 15, “Monet’s Garden” in the city’s Alte Münze (Old Mint) aims to transport spectators into the Monet’s Impressionist world, all while exploring the halls of a historic city-centre coin mint where countless euros and marks were previously made.

The curators have designed three rooms in which parts of the artist’s famous garden and house in Giverny near Paris have been virtually – and literally – recreated.

The digital elements and animations, borrowed from and influenced by Monet’s famous paintings, come together into one large art work space.

Also in Berlin, the “Genius Immersive Experience” exhibition is setting its sights on the works of da Vinci from January 28 to March 31.

Organizers say the inventions and ideas of the painter, sculptor, architect, anatomist, mechanic and engineer can be discovered in an entirely new way in large light-filled spaces where visitors are surrounded on all sides by sounds and visuals.