ARTS

ARTS Imagine Picasso takes a bold immersive look at an art rebel

by Charlie Smith

As an artist, Spaniard Pablo Picasso was known for breaking traditional rules around art. He painted two-dimensionally. He turned objects into geometric shapes. And he showed how one of his patrons, Gertrude Stein, would look many years into the future.

In a similar vein, the cocreator of Imagine Picasso: The Immersive Exhibition, enjoys challenging conventional notions about how paintings should be displayed. In a Zoom interview with the Straight from her home in France, Mauger says that the show will feature giant versions of Picasso’s art on the floor of the Vancouver Convention Centre, as well as on walls and the ceilings. Some paintings will appear upside down.

“When you are putting a painting on a wall, you have the frames and the frames hang on a hook,” Mauger says. “And it goes straight because of gravity. In an immersive exhibition, I don’t have gravity. It’s just projection.”

In the early 2000s, Mauger came across Cathédrale d’Images in an underground quarry in Baux-de-Provence. Considered the world’s first immersive art exhibition, the installation—known as Image Totale— was invented by French photographer Albert Plécy in 1977.

In 2001, she began using this technology to create an immersive exhibition of the works of Vincent Van Gogh, which will end its run at the Vancouver Convention Centre on October 31. In 2018, Mauger and Julien Baron completed the Picasso show, relying on more than 200 of his works of art housed in France, Spain, the United States, and Japan, among other places.

Before deciding to become totally absorbed in an artist, Mauger always asks herself the same question: “Why do I want to do an immersive exhibition about this painter? Why? That is the only question that is important and I have to answer it.”

For Picasso, Mauger wanted to create an “impossible exhibition” of his work by including paintings not permitted to leave where they are housed in France and Spain. In addition, she says that people often look at Picasso as a “genius” rather than as a person who went through various phases and worked extremely hard at his art. Mauger felt a need to get beyond the geniuslabel.

According to Mauger, immersive exhibitions are for everybody because they attract people of all ages, including young people who don’t feel that they can go to museums. Plus, she loves the sense of community created with her immersive art shows. “When you are in a museum, you are kind of alone,” she says. “You have to be silent.” g

Imagine Picasso: The Immersive Exhibition shows the Spaniard’s work on floors and walls.

Imagine Picasso: The Immersive Exhibition opens on October 27 at the Vancouver Convention Centre East Building.

Classics Oct 23/24

THIS WEEKEND! Robert Silverman plays Bach

Sat, 8pm | Chan Centre, UBC Sun, 7pm | Bell Centre, Surrey

Bach Keyboard Concerto in D minor Bach Preludes & Fugues (selections) Bach A Musical Offering

Robert Silverman

Hear it. Feel it.

Sal Ferreras

Pops Oct 29/30

Sal Ferreras “Latin Nights”

Fri & Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

Vancouver Percussionist Sal Ferreras joins his Latin Jazz sextet and the fabulous Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to open the London Drugs Pops series with a celebration of Latin American rhythm, dance and joy.

Kids Oct 31

The Composer is Dead!

By Nathaniel Stookey with Text by Lemony Snicket Sun, 2pm | Orpheum

There’s dreadful news from the symphony hall — the composer is dead! Where exactly were the violins on the night in question? Did anyone see the harp? There’s a mystery to be solved in the orchestra, and the suspect is still at large! Plus a suite of Halloween-themed favourites.

Masterworks Nov 5/6

Rachmaninoff & Strauss

Fri & Sat, 8pm | Orpheum

Discover the music of two giants of the lateRomantic period with Maestro Tausk and piano phenom Stewart Goodyear.

Stewart Goodyear

OCT 23 CONCERT SUPPORT PROVIDED BY OCT 29 & 30 VSO POPS SERIES SPONSOR OCT 31 KIDS CONCERTS SERIES SPONSOR

NOV 5 & 6 MASTERWORKS DIAMOND SERIES SPONSOR MEDIA SPONSOR

VancouverSymphony.ca 604.876.3434