Escaping Reality into a World of Immersive Experiences
Graphic by Allie Wicks
The ability to live inside a painting may sound like something from a dream or an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place, but at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Chicago, paint strokes cover the walls and blanket the floor. Visitors are enveloped in a world of color as well as surround sound to be completely engaged in the art.
"It makes you feel like you're a stroke of paint on the canvas," says first-year Carly Witteman. "It's almost like you become part of the art."
Image courtesy of Carly Witteman.
First-years Witteman and Julianna Zitron got tickets for the exhibit through Willard Residential College, and they said it was one of their favorite activities of the quarter. They said that the art was consuming and almost brought them to tears.
The Van Gogh Exhibit is a perfect representation of the Generation Z (Gen Z) mindset: we no longer want to observe. We want to be immersed. We want to be the main character.
No longer do we judge restaurants solely by their menus, nor are we content with watching a play from afar. Gen Z wants a peek into the creative minds of those around them.
Image courtesy of Carly Witteman.
Zitron remembered themed cafés and restaurants from her childhood in New York City. When she was young, she would eat at Jekyll and Hyde Club, a restaurant with a mad scientist/horror movie workshop theme that uses special effects and live entertainment. Zitron loved her visits to the Jekyll and Hyde Club because not only was she getting a good meal, but she had a great time with her friends.
Now, more and more restaurants are taking cues from places like the Jekyll and Hyde Club. The cute decorations, creative ideas and "Instagrammability" of a restaurant is just as important to its popularity as the quality of its food or service.
"I feel like I'm more likely to go to something if it has a theme that kind of catches my eye," says Zitron.
When Witteman recalled her favorite immersive experiences, she thought of escape rooms and interactive theatre where she could step into new realities, scouting for clues or sitting between actors performing unique scenes.
It's human nature to love entertainment. For members of Gen Z, growing up in the golden age of technology has diminished our attention spans and heightened our awareness for the next eye-catching thing. Although social media occasionally distracts people from living in the present, many marketers of immersive experiences have used social media to their advantage.
Image courtesy of Carly Witteman.
Zitron takes into account the “Instagrammability” of an activity when choosing it. "I think that we like to go to things because we think, not only will we have a good time doing it, but we get to take fun photos and share them with other people," Zitron says. "I do think that [Gen Z] is targeted by these kinds of exhibits so they can get their message out, and we can just have a good time."
After spending a year restricted to our homes, we are looking for immersive experiences, including those we used to take for granted, more than ever.
"You can watch a movie at home on your couch," Witteman says. "But I talked to so many people about how we can't wait to go back to movie theaters and be immersed in that experience of sitting in a crowded theater with popcorn and the lights going dim."
With the country finally starting to return to normal, expect the immersive experience business model to significantly expand. With experiences, such as classes and meetings, that were considered immersive before the pandemic shifting online and becoming more one-dimensional, people have become more eager to turn their previously one-dimensional experiences, like restaurants and museums, into immersive ones.
Image courtesy of Carly Witteman.