Beyond Exhibitions Portland — Attraction in Portland

The Beyond Monet/Beyond Van Gogh exhibition is not an immersive art experience. It is a glorified screensaver.

The first part of the installation is a small entrance gallery with a few random factoids about each of the artists blown up on large, backlit panels. It feels like they're giving you a smattering of background on each artist to prime you for the larger exhibit beyond, which will delve deeper into the lives and work of the two artists. Spoiler alert: It does not.

The "exhibition" is nothing more than a large room with floor-to-ceiling projections on each of the walls, and on two free-standing screens in the center. At this point, perhaps you are expecting a chronological retrospective of the artists' work, where the medium of video is used to deliver an enhanced understanding or appreciation of the paintings. Perhaps you're thinking, "Both of these artists did dozens of paintings of the same subject matter. A clever use of moving pictures could be used to showcase the evolution and differences in the art as it progressed." Or maybe you're just thinking, "A room-sized, high-definition projection would really highlight the textures of the paintings that are difficult to see with the naked eye."

If you had any expectations so lofty, you will be disappointed. What you get is about ninety minutes of free-to-use, public-domain artwork mashed together in clumsy cut-and-paste vignettes. This is the show for you if you've ever looked at a Monet and thought, "The masterful use of light and shadow to create the illusion of water isn't selling it enough. It would be better if someone put a cheesy ripple effect on the water and threw a Photoshop lasso around the boats to make them bob up and down. Now THAT'S water!"

You get trains that slide through the paintings billowing CG particle smoke. You get Van Gogh portraits that blink like relics from Hogwarts. You get another random smattering of "inspirational" quotes worthy of being slapped on a gift-shop post card. Oh, and of course you get funneled through that gift shop on the way out, as well as some kind of VR experience of Van Gogh's letters (if you want to shell out an additional $15).

Perhaps worst of all, the projections AREN'T EVEN GOOD. The whole experience is a washed-out mess with pixels the size of your fist, from projectors misaligned enough to create large areas of blurry graphics and doubled-up text. It's a lackluster presentation displayed badly. It fires on no cylinders.

And then there's the deceptive pricing. They offer tickets for Monet OR Van Gogh individually for $46, or you can "enjoy both Beyond Monet and Beyond Van Gogh for a discounted price" of $66. In fact, it's all one thing. There is no separation whatsoever. Buy either ticket and you see both. To pay $46 for this is already a blatant rip off, but to pay $66 is criminal.

Beyond Monet/Beyond Van Gogh isn't the kind of display you pay admission to see. It's the kind of thing they show in an airport concourse tunnel, designed to be largely ignored as you rush to your gate. The whole thing feels like an insult to the artists, and to your...

I have mixed feelings about the exhibit experience. When we arrived, there was very little instruction provided as to where we should go and what to expect. There were no staff inside the exhibit to ask questions or guide you through the experience. For example, nobody explained that the actual show just loops twice so you sit there thinking "well, we already saw this part, was that the end?, is there more?, are we supposed to watch it twice?, etc." Also, in this huge space, there was limited and not very comfortable seating. The screens are huge (both in a good and bad way) - it was a beautiful display, large and bright but there was so much to see around the entire room that it was easy to miss stuff, writing on one side of the room says something different than the other side of the room for example. My neck was sore afterwards from just trying to look around to catch everything. Some of the experience was wonderful with moving projections and beautiful music while other times it was hard to keep my enthusiasm and attention. I saw other reviews where they said it is like a big screensaver and I agree to a large extent, however, the space and screens were huge and completely surrounds you so it did provide a different experience than just looking at your computer screen. My advice to the creators would be the following: 1) add comfortable seating and possibly ways for people to comfortably lay down 2) provide additional instructions when people arrive on where to go and how to enjoy the experience 3) either keep similar displays for the entire room (same writing/quotes on both sides of the room) or have a way for people to sit and see the entire room so they don't miss the art in the room or hurt their neck from having to turn so much to see everything 4) keep the entire experience captivating with less stagnant time looking at screens that are not exciting. I was especially disappointed in not seeing the Irises painting, the main reason I was excited to go. I do agree with some of the other reviews regarding the lack of transparency about what to expect - prior to attending the event, details were vague at most and prior to purchasing the tickets they did not explain that tickets are non-refundable - I was only told they were non-refundable after placing the ticket order. It did seem expensive for what was offered, especially once you add in the extra fees and parking. Although we overall had a nice time together, we would not go again. I...

Excellent, moving experience. This was the 1st time I'd been out to a larger event since COVID started. Some of the effects were quite interesting in the main show, transforming the pieces of art and giving them life through animation. The story of Van Gogh told through some of his own original documented quotes as well as his letters with his brother, Theo, imparted new points of view into Vincent's troubled mind. A friend had commented on the music not feeling appropriate for his work, which is meant to celebrate life, natural beauty, and elicit happiness. I understood where they were coming from, but I feel that the music left a sense of melancholy with the end culminating in a sense of victory or freedom. Just what I would expect the artist to feel while he worked on these pieces, seeking piece of mind through his expressions.

Perhaps for me it was just the right kind of emotion spoken at the right time in my life. Impostor syndrome is everywhere and tends to make me question my ability more days than not. Van Gogh put it well in perspective with actions that removed part of his identity from his work, but also gave it something more. Although he ultimately lost his fight with himself and couldn't find peace, the story is a reminder (at least to myself) to work on quieting the negative self talk and taking more time to look at beauty in the natural world.

I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere that the show created and I feel that it was less expensive than it could have been. I did go in a group so we did get the group discount, but I easily would have paid $60 or more for the experience. It reminded me of Team Labs Borderless exhibits in Tokyo, Japan, featured around IG, but had a much more intimate feeling as the primary show occurred in one room.

Accessibility was good, they had minimal seating, but wheelchairs were available and the exhibit was on 1 floor with no stairs or interruptions in the level ground. Most scenes were repeated on the walls and pillars, but it did occasionally feature something unique on particular walls which of course was to encourage movement. Noise from the audio was just right for me,, although those sensitive to it might require mild sound blocking. There is a portion near the end(portraits) with some flickering light, meant to simulate an old desk lamp flickering on or off. I did find I needed to look away, but it was not enough to diminish the...