Immersive exhibitions are changing the way people consume art

Transcript

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Amna Nawaz: In recent years, immersive art exhibitions have become a hot ticket. They put viewers in the midst of the art, often through computer-generated lights and sounds.

Special correspondent Cat Wise recently visited an immersive arts space in Portland.

It’s part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Cat Wise: In one room, colorful graffiti painted virtually on walls, in another, 7,000 LED lights precisely choreographed to an otherworldly soundtrack.

These are some of the high-tech experiences, along with technology-free installations, that are part of Hopscotch, an immersive gallery space in Portland that opened in June.

Nicole Jensen, Co-Founder, Hopscotch: We are an experience that is driven by art.

Cat Wise: Nicole Jensen. is the co-founder of Hopscotch, which has another location in San Antonio, Texas, that opened in 2020.

Nicole Jensen: We just felt like, as consumers, it’s hard to find permanent immersive art experiences or just large-scale art experiences that weren’t at a festival.

While you might see an interactive art piece at a traditional gallery or in an airport or in a city park, you might not see it next to 14 other similar types of art.

Cat Wise: In Portland those 14 commissioned installations, which come from a mix of local, national and international artists, are displayed in a former hardware store that Jensen and her team transformed into a sleek, modern space, where play is encouraged.

So tell me about this room.

Nicole Jensen: Well, we are heading into Quantum Trampoline. This artist is from Russia. We support them. They believe in making art, not war.

Cat Wise: Jensen and I created some art together.

Nicole Jensen: It tracks your movements.

Cat Wise: This interactive installation is from a team of artists called Kuflex.

So, we are basically becoming part of the art, is that right?

Nicole Jensen: Yes. Basically, you are a particle of light in the infinite cosmos.

Obviously, the ability to work with people internationally and remotely is behind a lot of these types of things. It just opens up a whole new world.

Cat Wise: While fun is a focus, there are more serious aspects to some of the art as well.

In Rainbow Cave, New York artist Barbara Syrenka uses 86,000 upcycled plastic bags to highlight the number used around the world about every five seconds.

Gaze is a collaboration with the Human Rights Campaign.

Nicole Jensen: We take their message and bring it to life through 34 different panels that are uplifting and empowering.

Cat Wise: A national nonprofit which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights. Jensen is on the organizations board of governors.

Nicole Jensen: It just was really important for me, as a queer person, to — when you’re a business owner, you know, you can create the spaces you want to be in and you want others to feel comfortable in.

Cat Wise: In other rooms, visitors are transported to different realms.

Seth Nehil, Sound Designer and Electric Musician: This is Unknown Atmospheres. It was created in collaboration with Parallel Studio. We were looking to match light and sound behavior.

Cat Wise: Seth Nehil is a Portland sound designer and electric musician who worked on two of the installations. He spent six months composing this five-minute soundtrack.

Seth Nehil: Sound can really act in an unconscious level and affect people’s mood or their perception of other senses in a way that they’re not necessarily thinking about it.

Cat Wise: While numerous studies have found connections between the arts and human well-being, more research is now under way looking at the specific impacts of immersive art experiences.

One study last year by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found higher levels of immersion were associated with heightened emotions, such as happiness, awe and feeling relaxed. That mini-vacation for the heart and mind may be some of the factors leading to the surge of interest in immersive art.

Co-founder Jensen says Hopscotch tickets, which are limited to about 1,000 a day and cost $24 for adults and $15 for children over the age of 3, have sold out most days since they opened.

Are you trying to attract people who may not have gone to a traditional art gallery before or been interested in traditional art?

Nicole Jensen: Absolutely. My favorite guests are the ones that are drug here by someone. And they have been told through society that they aren’t creative or they are not interested in art, or maybe they didn’t feel comfortable, frankly, is what I think it comes down to, in artistic spaces. And then they have an amazing time.

So it’s about making people connect.

Cat Wise: On a recent afternoon, those connections were being made by visitors of all ages and backgrounds.

Suri Johnson, Visitor: I feel like this is a bucket list for Portland.

Cat Wise: Suri Johnson and Ashley Stilles , who learned about Hopscotch on TikTok, drove down to Seattle.

Suri Johnson: After each room, we’re like, OK. It sparks conversation and emotions.

Ashley Stilles , Visitor: We talked about how art has the power to change your perspective and how you view something that may have happened, and this definitely leaves you feeling something different after every room.

Cat Wise: While immersive art has its share of critics, including those who feel the entertainment aspect is emphasized to the detriment of the art, Portland artist Francisco Morales doesn’t see it that way.

Francisco Morales, Muralist: I think the line between art and entertainment is oftentimes blurred. So, I don’t necessarily see that as like a positive or a negative thing.

Cat Wise: Morales, whose mural depicts predatory advertisements that target Latin American communities, says he’s not bothered that some may miss his message.

Francisco Morales: As an artist, I would rather folks engage with my art at whatever capacity, whether it be with a critical lens or on more of like a superficial, kind of like, oh, it’s aesthetically pleasing. So, I think that there’s validity in both of those things and, like, everything in between that spectrum.

Cat Wise: Hopscotch’s Portland lease goes until 2033, and Jensen says they plan to change out installations roughly every two years.

They are hoping to open two new locations, including a waterfront property in South Los Angeles, over the next several years.

For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Cat Wise in Portland, Oregon.