Frida Kahlo Immersive Exhibit

As someone who loves Frida Kahlo and is researching immersive storytelling, I write this article to critique and offer suggestions to enhance the immersive experience.

What is immersion?

“Immersive productions remove the stage and encourage audience involvement by allowing participants to feel as if they are part of the world where the story takes place.”

Now let’s jump into the experience. I had the pleasure of visiting the Immersive Frida Kahlo Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois. The experience was created through Lighthouse Immersive, known for the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibition their first ever experiential exhibit. I respect that Lighthouse Immersive is a rather new company, and I promote their vision, “to cultivate community and creativity through large-scale events and exhibitions of all art forms.”

My partner and I entered the venue and were directed up the stairs which were painted with Vince Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom. I was thrown off by the Van Gogh art on the stairs, but realized the venue is still transitioning from Van Gogh to the Frida Kahlo experience.

The entrance to the experience is behind a curtain. While waiting, I heard Florence + The Machine’s cover of Stand by Me blaring through the walls. Once we stepped into the world, I was overwhelmed by darkness, sound, and intense visuals popping up on the walls. From the floor to the top of the walls, the entire venue was covered in projections of Frida Kahlo's artwork and photographs from her life.

People were sprawled around the venue, and I realized I should find a spot to watch the visuals. Once I found my seat, I took in my environment—people of all ages, masked and staring at the walls filled with visuals of Frida’s art. I felt a sense of community as I saw others laying around the venue, and grateful for this moment of connectedness with humanity.

The 40-minute projection show was separated into visual segments of Frida Kahlo’s life based on her artwork. The segments took the audience through the crucial moments in Kahlo’s life that inspired her paintings. My favorite segment was inspired by Kahlo’s Self-Portrait With Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. The walls were filled with greenery, thorns, and animals. I appreciated the stimulation of vibrant visuals and thunderous music. Though, I desired more emphasis on the symbolism within Frida’s painting.

Now into my critique, the animation, sound design, and storytelling elements were disconnected from the world-building of the Immersive Frida Kahlo Exhibition. The aesthetic of the animation didn’t fit with Frida’s artwork. There were little moments where a painted Frida might blink or smile at you. There wasn’t a true purpose for the animation, and the low quality hindered the value of the project mapping technology. There were many times the sound design took me out of the experience. Most songs didn’t make sense paired with Frida Kahlo’s life and artwork. For instance, I recognize La Vie En Rose was used to represent Kahlo’s time in Paris, but it was jarring to hear the singer say, “Everybody sing with me.” I craved more Mexican music and songs that matched the intentions of Frida’s artwork. Lastly, I wished the experience had created an emotional narrative because there wasn’t a storyline. I only realized her life was the “storyline” as I was leaving to the gift shop and saw her timeline on a wall with important events and correlating images from the production.

I evaluate that the Immersive Frida Kahlo Exhibition isn't immersive because of the lack of narrative and muddled world-building. There wasn't an opportunity to have the audience interact with the art. The audience could take pictures of the projections, but that was the extent of interaction. I recognize that immersion is a changing term throughout the performing arts world, but because the exhibition is missing the narrative element, it can't truly be an immersive experience.

I want to offer some suggestions on how to make this experience immersive. Since Lighthouse Immersive focuses on digital art, I'll keep these suggestions digital.

First off, we're in Frida's head, her world! What is the story Frida would've wanted to tell?

Most of the world only knows Frida Kahlo, the artist, but she's also a poet. I would have loved to hear incorporations of speech to build the emotional narrative. Frida left behind beautiful heart-wrenching poems and quotes. I craved to hear her voice, or one resembling, reading her poems and connecting the audience through her poetry. That's why the random voice from La Vie En Rose felt misplaced because it was the only voice that 'spoke' throughout the show.

I noticed many families enjoying the event and thought about adding to the family-friendly environment created. The experience could add an interactive game element. Kahlo's pet spider monkey is in many of her paintings; what if projected on the floor was "Can you find Frida's spider monkey?" The animated animal would have a purpose if moving and hiding around the space. Then whenever an audience member finds the spider monkey, they can take a picture and post it on their social media. The game could create an initiative to explore and journey the world.

Adding an acting element to connect your audience to Frida Kahlo would significantly heighten world-building. Envision a projection of an actress playing Frida, connecting and interacting with the audience. Frida can ask the audience questions and improvise. With the technology we have today, this can be accomplished with the overhead projections connected to the company's zoom account.

I recall the final visual of the exhibit was an American diner scene, and I can't comprehend why this specific painting closed out the production. A strong ending would bring together speech, project mapping, and sound design to build Frida's world. May I suggest, for the final visual scene, imagine project mapping of one of Frida Kahlo's last paintings with a VO or visual of her quote, "I hope the exit is joyful, and I hope never to return." While her favorite song, Cielito Lindo, plays, the audience can actively say their goodbyes.

Overall, there needs to be an option for the audience to participate in the world built for them. The experience was more an exhibit of artwork communicated through project mapping visuals and music than an immersive event. I recommend experiencing the production at least once, and I'm interested to see how Lighthouse Immersive will continue to progress.