Storytelling, creativity, and technology come together at the service of knowledge, thus narrating the fascinating and enigmatic history of the Mexican painter.
The only immersive experience that exists focused on a female artist, the exhibition is centered around storytelling, combining cinematic and traditional museum experiences, seeking to actively engage the public with the unique life and artistic trajectory of one of the most celebrated Mexican artists of all time. By turning the surface of the exhibition space into a symphony of color and sound.
Featuring large-scale audiovisual elements, more than a hundred plastic artworks, literary pieces, and photographs come to life to pay an artistic tribute to the renowned Mexican painter. An artistic reinterpretation of Frida´s work through her life story, the immersive gallery presents more than 2,500 hand-painted animated photograms, bringing Frida Kahlo’s masterpieces to life.
Good stories always captivate audiences, and Frida has an amazing story to tell. The exhibition departs from popular perceptions of Frida Kahlo’s story and focuses instead on her intellectual talents, cultural knowledge, and political involvement, as well as her strength and resilience in life. Focused on presenting the painter’s human side, the emotional engagement is developed by letting the viewer relate to Frida´s many aspects: as a woman, as a painter, and as a historical figure.
Kahlo’s diaries are the basis for all her dialog in the immersive show. A recently discovered journal portrays a very personal and unknown facet of this outstanding artist. It contains the artist’s thoughts, poems, and dreams, reflecting her tumultuous relationship with her husband, artist Diego Rivera, along with 70 mesmerizing watercolor illustrations.
Each scene of the immersive audiovisual interprets and deepens one or several of her paintings, extending the perception of the artworks and iconography. The narration forms the backbone of the exhibition: it is entirely based on the words that Frida wrote in her diary. A voiceover with two female Mexican voices was developed to accentuate the documentary and poetic dimensions of the piece. Actors narrate scenes from Kahlo’s life, and an original score heightens the drama of her career and personal challenges. Highlighting the richness of her writings yet offering a window to her personality and life. Serves the double purpose of inviting the audience to the feeling of being inside Frida´s creative mind yet offering the emotional experience where art, music, and storytelling blend harmonically.
ACCIONA Cultura has created an incomparable immersive exhibition where digital art, creativity, and storytelling joined forces to reinterpret the life and artistic trajectory of the Mexican painter.
The creative and production techniques selected for the sensory elements serve to reproduce and reinterpret the artist’s pictorial style. Detailed graphic research of her paintings was necessary to bring the elements and characters of her work to life. Likewise, to recreate atmospheres and contextualize events in her life, illustrations were created that combine photographic imagery, drawings, and collages, symbolizing a dedicated and surreal interpretation of Frida’s world.
From a creative point of view, the project it´s a gathering of the minds, where a team of designers, sound technicians, content creators, curators, architects, and musicians have joined forces to translate Frida Kahlo’s art into today’s world language. The technological elements together with the creative reinterpretation of the artist’s life and work make the exhibition a unique experience.
Another layer of innovation is provided by the space where the exhibition took place in Madrid. The venue was a rehabilitated industrial space, located in an old bus station that displayed its 1,129 m2 4K projection surface (including walls and floors) and 38 state-of-the-art projectors. While repurposing an industrial bus station, the project demonstrated the ability of innovative exhibition designs to adapt to different spaces and be avant-garde while activating the city’s industrial heritage through culture.
More information can be found here.