The Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience – the official touring arm of the Van Gogh Museum – is to create tours in Lisbon, Portugal and London, UK as it expands its retailtainment concept.
The offer combines innovative storytelling with comprehensive Van Gogh Museum retail platforms and the company is at MAPIC showcasing its range of propositions, from the Van Gogh Museum Edition Pop-Up of 100 sq m, to the full-size Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience at 1,200-1,500 sq m.
These flexible formats create spaces within retail and leisure environments where families, tourists and locals can enjoy artistic and retail pursuits at the same time.
The Meet Vincent van Gogh Experience has already toured in Beijing, China; Seoul, Korea and Barcelona, Spain in 2019 and the tours planned for 2020 will take place in Lisbon and, at a venue to be confirmed next month, in London for a February launch. A pop-up is also currently operating at Brookfield’s Northbrook Court Mall in Illinois, US.
General manager Arnold van de Water, said that he believes the retail industry has reached a turning point in terms of embracing culture within commercial spaces after “talking and talking about it for years” and said that it was an opportunity for both parties to “add one and one to make three” in terms of opportunities.
“I think that everyone is looking for that sweet spot, to expand culture and create a great return on investment. We have produced the smaller pop-up format and the full Experience, which is perfect for flagships. But we are very interested in working with venues to create bespoke projects,” he said.
Using art and installations to create places that people are proud of and are keen to share on social media is becoming an increasingly important aspect of retail and leisure destinations, Nadine Castagna, co-founder of ArtBliss, told RPA.
Castagna’s specialist, Paris-based consultancy helps to introduce art, interactive installations and architectural pieces into shopping centres and mixed-use locations has completed projects in France, Poland and the Middle East. She believes that private developers will play an increasingly important role in combining art and public spaces.
“Art is an incredibly important way of creating a sense of place and all of our projects involve the artists we work with producing original pieces,” she said. “These artworks then become places where people meet, or hang out or share across social media. They are very effective at helping to increase dwell.”
ArtBliss collaborates with around 400 artists and Castagna points out that they are not an agent but rather help put artists and developers together to produce relevant pieces of work. These range from pop-ups to permanent architectural landmarks and also include digital pieces that people can interact with.
“Art is something which is very generous for people who live or visit a place,” said Castagna. “It doesn’t produce a direct payment but it allows the developer to give something unique back and it can often become the iconic element that defines a place.