Immersive Amsterdam

In Amsterdam you will currently find three large-scale, digital art installations that broaden your view and sharpen the senses. Step into Nxt Museum in North, Fabrique des Lumières in West and Vincent meets Rembrandt in the Center and experience a unique experience of art.

UFO – Unidentified Fluid Other
– Nxt Museum, Asterweg 22, nxtmuseum.com

What would happen if we would be able to detach from the physical world and change form? Curated by Bogomir Doringer, the second exhibition of The Amsterdam Nxt Museum – ‘UFO – Unidentified Fluid Other’ – examines who we become in the virtual world. Due to social change and technological development, we can ask questions that do away with established notions, creating more space for ideas without fixed boundaries. Artists are alert to the first signs of our future digital existence, developers are building metaverses and we are preparing for a new reality with fluid identities in a world that is apparently free of fixed social constraints. Who are we and who will we become: Joyful ‘fluid’? Collectively ‘different’? Or completely ‘unknown’.

Pioneering multidisciplinary artists shed light on the various possibilities and inevitable dilemmas using new media technologies: from augmented reality and fractal art, to computer programming and 3D sculpting. Visitors will discover a series of previously unseen large-scale, multi-sensory art installations led by Viatrix, an androgynous avatar (or ‘Unidentified Fluid Other’).

The sideshows include deep fakes by Bill Posters and the latest video artwork by Lu Yang in which you become the protagonist in a multifaceted and philosophical video game-like world.

Open since August 2020 and located in a former production studio in the heart of Amsterdam-North, Nxt Museum is the first museum in the Netherlands entirely devoted to art, technology, science & sound.

Vincent meets Rembrandt
– Noorderkerk, Noordermarkt 44, vincentmeetsrembrandt.com

No other Dutch masters are as famous around the world as Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh. Although the oeuvres of the two artists show no similarities at first glance, Van Gogh’s works were influenced by those of Rembrandt. During his early years, Van Gogh became fascinated by Rembrandt’s artistic mentality, coarse brushstrokes and use of light and dark. He could often be found at the Rijksmuseum admiring the paintings of the 17th-century master. After his very first visit in 1885 when he became acquainted with works such as ‘The Jewish Bride’, he wrote a letter to his brother Theo, saying that: “Rembrandt goes so deep into the mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in language.”

After four successful months in 2021, the unique 360-degree experience ‘Vincent Meets Rembrandt’ is on view again at the Noorderkerk. Set amidst an ever-changing canvas on the interior walls of the historic church, visitors can make connections between the works of the two masters.

This special exhibition uses no fewer than 38 projectors (a total of 311,904,000 pixels) spread throughout the church. The experience was created by MP Studios from Bulgaria and is the brainchild of ​​Hennie Jaspers and Marcel Vos, with music composed by Maarten van den Bosch. Dr. Fred Leeman, who worked at the Van Gogh Museum for many years, has historically verified the contents.

Gustav Klimt in Fabrique des Lumières
– Zuiveringshal West, Pazzanistraat 37, fabrique-lumieres.com

Last April, Fabrique des Lumières opened in Zuiveringshal West of the Westergasfabriek. In this new digital art center (an initiative of the French company Culturespaces, known for the Atelier des Lumières in Paris), visitors can experience immersive exhibitions of classic, modern and contemporary artists. The work of various protagonists in art history is colourfully brought to life with the aid of advanced technology, light projections and accompanying music.

In the opening exhibition, ‘Gustav Klimt, gold in motion’ the most famous pieces by the Viennese artist and his contemporaries are presented in an innovative way. Experience the golden and brightly coloured portraits, landscapes and nudes as you immerse yourself in Imperial Vienna of the late-19th century. This is followed by a short exhibition ‘Hundertwasser, in the wake of the Vienna Secession’. Friedensreich Hundertwasser was heavily influenced by the Vienna Secession – an art movement founded by Klimt and other Viennese artists in 1897 – and represented an artistic revival of the movement in the 20th century.

In addition, two other exhibitions by contemporary artists can be admired at the studio of the digital art center: ‘Journey’, a digital artwork about photons (one of the elementary particles of light) and ‘Memories’ (about how we use our memory and how this information determines who we are).

All exhibits are on display until December 31st. A new program will follow in 2023. The Fabrique des Lumières exhibitions are accessible to all generations and show the architecture of the Zuiveringshal West, with its 17-meter high walls and 3,800 m2, to its fullest.