A while back I read an article on The Atlantic titled ‘Art for Instagram’s Sake’ by Katherine Schweb, which questioned whether immersive exhibitions were changing the nature of the gallery experience. Undoubtedly visitors are spending more time looking at the art through their phone, ‘meticulously choosing filters to best highlight the vibrant colours and textures of the art before them’, or using the exhibition backdrop for the ‘ultimate selfie’. As she rightly comments, the phenomenon brings art to the masses in a way that hasn’t been achieved before, making people more curious and perhaps more likely to visit galleries themselves. Like her, I disagree that it’s nobody’s place – art critic, art institution, or cultural elite – to say what ways art should or shouldn’t be experienced by an individual, and this is precisely why I found the recent Yoyoi Kusama’s exhibition at London’s Victoria Miro gallery to be a disappointment.

The Chelsea Art Fair has been a key date in the International Art Fair calendar for 21 years.

This year, 30 leading UK and International galleries have once again come together in the elegant Chelsea Old Town Hall for four days, from Thursday 21 April until Sunday 24 April. 

SLMpickings headed to the VIP Birthday preview on Wednesday evening to check out the beautiful art on display this year. ​

Founded in 2001, teamLab is an artistic collaboration with over 400 members, bringing together professionals from various fields of practice in the information age. The interdisciplinary group work to produce completely immersive environments using digital technology.
 
They weren’t immediately well received in the art world, but since 2011 they have exploded onto the international scene, exhibiting in Japan, the USA, France, Australia, Turkey and just last year, the UK.

​I speak to Takashi Kudo about digital technology's important role in promoting positive relations between people.

​On the final day of Leake Street’s six-week VAULT festival, I took to the tunnel to have my senses livened by some classical music courtesy of a secret BitterSuite performance. Immersive theatre and dining experiences are now fairly common place on the urban social scene, but immersive concerts less so. 

Established by musician and composer Steph Singer, the BitterSuite collective is inspired by synesthesia and psychology and designed to make audiences really feel the music. The concert offered unique one-to-one experiences where each audience member was led through a choreographed sensory experience to Debussy, performed by Phaedra Ensemble instrumentalists. 

Taking lead from Samuel Beckett’s vision, internationally acclaimed director Max Stafford-Clark of Out of Joint theatre company recently took audiences into darkness with a blindfolded live performance of Beckett’s radio play ‘All That Fall’ at Camden School for girls, using 360 degrees sound design and unique audience proximity.

​
“When asked by Beckett’s nephew what my vision for the play was, I replied that there would be no vision, that the play would take place in darkness," explained Stafford-Clark as he introduced the show, “He replied that that was exactly how Beckett imagined it – with voices coming from the void.” ​