Anthony Ricciardi is a well-known artist who hosted an exhibit called Dream Space at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto. I had a chance to meet him at a charity dinner and hear his hot take on all the Instagram museums and immersive exhibits that have been popping up.
Some are really unique, like the Vincent Van Gogh or Prince experiences I saw on vacation while others look more basic. The Color Factory really raised the bar for me! I agree with Anthony that artists need to mix it up to keep people interested.
“I think overall, the public installations where people are going to in a post COVID world – going together with friends and family, experiencing spaces, taking photos together, creating memories, I think they’re here to stay.
And they’re only elevating now! Like when I was doing it in 2018/2019, they were 3D, but still two dimensional and sensitive, like handmade. We are now moving into more immersive virtual experiences, where cameras and lights and all the different things are being involved. And I think that’s fantastic. And I think like, with the evolution of AI and all the different things and being able to immerse things quicker, and change things like on the fly, I think that it’s only gonna get better and stronger.
I don’t think it’s overplayed. And I think that artists and creatives [need] to change what they’re doing more frequently, because it does eventually get stale.
We’re seeing it now in Yorkdale. Yorkdale had the pop up for Friends for two months, and now they have The Office. I’m sure we’ll do another one after that right. That’s the key. They’re in waves – a couple months here and a couple months there. As long as we can stay with those waves, I think it’s here to stay!” – Anthony Ricciardi