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Gogh by Car:
Immersive Van Gogh Announces World’s First Drive-In Digital Art Exhibition
World premiere exhibition finds creative way to consume art in an era of physical distancing
(Toronto, ON) – The monumental exhibition of Immersive van Gogh was set to make its world premiere in Toronto this week to welcome audiences to a 600,000 cubic ft. immersive digital art experience featuring a curated selection of imagery from van Gogh’s 2000+ catalogue of masterpieces. As a result of coronavirus and restrictions on large public gatherings, the co-producers of Lighthouse Immersive (part of the team that presented The Art of Banksy), have boldly innovated a drive-in concept that offers a visually striking immersive art experience, while maintaining public safety.
Immersive van Gogh will open its “Gogh by Car,” will allow patrons to drive into the rarely seen historic space of the Toronto Star’s former printing presses at 1 Yonge Street. The expansive venue will be able to accommodate only 14 vehicles per timeslot for participants to park, turn off their engines, and enjoy a 35-minute experience from inside their cars featuring an all-encompassing experience of art, light, sound, movement and imagination that evokes the highly emotional and chaotic inner consciousness of one of the greatest artists of all time.
Patrons who purchase tickets to the drive-in preview will also receive tickets to the walk-in experience of Immersive van Gogh when it is safe to open; and when the exhibition can be presented in its full scale and original format.
“Presenting cultural events during this time of COVID-19 is an incredible challenge and we are saddened to see the cultural calendar in Toronto diminished as almost all arts institutions have cancelled their events and laid off their artists and sta ff,” said co-producer Corey Ross. “We believe in the power of art to uplift, inspire and connect communities; and it is more important than ever to offer a creative outlet for Torontonians to escape and recharge during this unprecedented global crisis.”
The exhibition is designed by the master creators of Atelier des Lumières, who originated the digital art experience in Paris seen by more than 2 million people worldwide. Massimiliano Siccardi (creative director) and Luca Longobardi (composer) have been working from their studios in Italy and Germany, with the creative support of Toronto-based contractors, designers and technical stagehands to prepare Immersive van Gogh for preview.
“We have been working around the clock to come up with innovative approaches that will make presenting Immersive van Gogh safe for our audiences, while keeping our artists, contractors and staff employed at their pre-COVID salaries,” says co- producer Svetlana Dvoretsky. “We recognize the devastating impact that coronavirus continues to have on the livelihood of artists and the cultural industry; and will continue to do our part to support artists and make art accessible during these extraordinary circumstances. We believe strongly in the resilience of culture in this great city.”
About Lighthouse Immersive:
Lighthouse Immersive brings together two of Toronto’s preeminent production companies – Starvox Entertainment, Canada’s fastest growing live entertainment company responsible for bringing hit shows like The Art of Banksy to Toronto, and Show One Productions, a full-service production company that presents high-profile international classical musicians and orchestras, opera stars, dance, and theatre – to present the world premiere of IMMERSIVE VAN GOGH in Toronto. Working directly with the Italian masters of immersive digital art responsible for the blockbuster Atelier des Lumières exhibition seen by more than two million visitors worldwide, Lighthouse Immersive has custom-designed IMMERSIVE VAN GOGH to envelop the 600,000 cu.ft. space of the Toronto Star’s five-story warehouse.
BIOS
COREY ROSS, Co-Producer:
Founded in 2005 by Corey Ross, Starvox Entertainment is ranked number 17 on Profit Magazine’s list of Toronto’s top 50 growth companies in 2013. Starvox produces, manages, represents and promotes cross-over performing arts shows that tour across Canada and the United States, as well as México, China, the Middle East and Europe. In 2013, Mr. Ross was a producer on the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS and remounted Evil Dead-The Musical to record-breaking sales in Toronto andPhiladelphia.StarvoxisalsotheproducerofHAIR-whichtouredthroughouttheUnitedStates.Starvox istheproducerofthe successful Harry Potter themed off-Broadway sensation Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience which continues to tour and experience sold-out engagements across the United States. Potted Potter launched its first tour in México in February 2014 with a second Canadian tour planned for the winter of 2014. Starvox has presented three productions written and directed by Woody Harrelson, John Malkovich in Giacomo Variations, and nationally broadcast concerts for the Stephen Lewis Foundation featuring Alicia Keys and Annie Lennox. Starvox recently produced a multi-million dollar reboot of the classic Las Vegas revue show Jubilee for Caesars Casino, with pop mega-star Beyonce’s creative team.
SVETLANA DVORETSKY, Co-Producer:
Toronto’s Show One Productions was founded in 2004 by the enterprising Russian born impresario Svetlana Dvoretsky. Initially focused on classical music and special projects, the company has since expanded greatly and is now a leading commercial presenter of international artists including musicians, and theatre and dance companies from around the world. Svetlana’s own training as a classical pianist and her exposure at a young age to a wide range of musicians and other artists inspired her to celebrate them in her chosen calling. With very little money, but no shortage of spunk, she organized her first Toronto concert in 2004. The event, Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi, was a huge success, and Show One Productions was born. Fifteen years later, Show One Productions is proudly collaborating with extraordinary artists from around the world. The company is especially proud of its presentations of Mikhail Baryshnikov, John Malkovich, Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi, Eifman Ballet, the Vakhtangov Theatre, and opera stars sopranos Sondra Radvanovsky and Hibla Gerzmava, and the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Trio Magnifico – the historic union at The Four Seasons Opera House of soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Yusif Eyvazov in their Toronto debuts, with Hvorostovsky in his last Toronto appearance – remains an exceptional musical memory. Show One produces around 50 performing arts events annually and attracts over 50,000 patrons, mostly in Toronto but also in Montreal, Vancouver and other locales.
MASSIMILIANO SICCARDI, Artistic Creator:
Massimiliano studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance of London. But in 1990, he left the world of dance to begin a new journey in the world of video art. Massimiliano quickly became the artistic force behind several visual mise-en-scène for choreographers around the world. He also created video scenographies for numerous prestigious festivals and galas around the world. He also re-constructed the video mapping of the Basilica di Giotto and for the Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari, where one of his permanent installation’s virtually reconstruct the frescoes of the Cupola. Massimiliano is also a celebrated photographer and has hadphotoexhibitionsinSpoletoandRome,toname a few. HeisprofessorofdigitalimageelaborationattheAccademiadi Comunicazione e Immagine of Rome. In 2012 Massimiliano received the prestigious International Award “Romaindanza” for his talent in the visual work of dance theatre. From 2012, he has been artist in residence at the Carrières de Lumières – Atelier des Lumières where he authored the mise-en-scène of numerous immersive shows. He is currently creating projects within Italy as well as New York, Berlin, Leipzig and Rome.
LUCA LONGBARDI, Composer:
Italian composer and pianist Luca Longobardi is a classically trained musician who incorporates the contemporary electronic music into his pieces. Born in 1976, Longobardi studied classical music in Italy and New York and went on to earn his doctorate in digital audio restoration in Rome in 2011. His works reveal a strong interaction between classical and contemporary music. The experience he has gained as a theatre musician has increased his interest in the relationship between sounds and spectacle; he has composed music for ballets and films and accompanied installations and experimental art productions (Atelier de Lumières – Paris, Carrière des Lumières – Baux-de-Provence, Kunstkraftwerk – Leipzig). At his multimedia performances and in his recordings, strong experimental electronic music meets pure, ethereal and simple-seeming piano playing that nevertheless relays deep emotions.
BY THE NUMBERS
90 million
Pixels
600,000
Cubic feet of exhibition space
60,600
Frames of video
800
Feet of truss beams
200
Amps in power
52
Projectors
40
Images featured from Vincent van Gogh’s catalogue
26
Surround sound speakers
15
Computers
16
Kilometres of cable
ARTWORK BY ORDER OF APPEARANCE
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- Still Life Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, August 1888
- Sunflowers, 1888
- The Kingfisher, Drawing – 1884
- Pollard Birches, Neunenm Drawing, 1884
- Parsonage with Flowering Trees
- Farmhouse in Nuenen, 1885
- Still Life with Bible, 1885
- The Potato Eaters, 1885
- Willows at Sunset, 1888
- The Sower, 1888
- Le Moulin de la Galette, 1886
- Vegetable Garden in Montmartre, 1887
- Quarry at Montmartre, 1886
- Le Moulin de Blute-Fin (1853-90)
- The Seine Bridge Near Asnières, 1887
- The Seine with the Pont de la Grande-Jatte, summer 1887
- Le restaurant de la Sirène à Asnières
- Japonaiserie: Courtesan or Oiran
- Orchard in Blossom, April 1888
- Japonaiserie: Bridge in the Rain, after Hiroshige, 1887
- The Yellow House, 1888
- Vincent’s House in Arles (The Yellow House), 1888
- The Bedroom, 1889
- Vincent’s Chair, 1888
- Olive Picking, December 1889
- The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum
- The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles, 1888
- Field with Poppies
- Irises, 1889
- House and Figure, 1890
- Farmhouse with Two Figures / The Farm in Summer, 1890
- Stairs at Auvers, 1890
- Wheat fields near Auvers-sur-Oise
- The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise
- Corridor of Saint-Paul Asylum, 1889
- Pine Trees with Figure in the Garden of Saint-Paul Hospital, 1889
- The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles, 1889
- Trees in the Garden of St. Paul’s Hospital, 1889
- The Starry Night, 1889
- Starry Night over the Rhône, 1888
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