Virtual reality: Frida Kahlo's life in 360 degrees

Created: 12/16/2022 10:59 am

By: Raphael Scherer

The projectors allow you to immerse yourself in the world of the artist's work from all sides.

© MORRIS MAC MATZEN

A multimedia show at Munich's Utopia tells the story of the Mexican artist.

Almost all of her works of art are there in unprecedented size. 

It takes a moment to realize that you're sitting on a bus.

After all, the eyes first have to wander around 360 degrees in Munich's Utopia Hall on Hessstrasse in order to see everything happening in its entirety.

Accompanied by strings and trumpets, a bus driver sits at the front and drives towards the drawn city, while fragments of Frida Kahlo's works dance past the bus windows on the six-meter-high walls left, right and behind.

So much and so fast that you're almost afraid of missing out on some of the beautiful scenery.

But those who know the life story of the artist only enjoy the journey with a bitter aftertaste: After a few minutes, the bus crashes and after a rain of gold dust, it turns black.

The 1927 accident in which a steel rod went through her pelvis and tied her to the bed.

There Frida Kahlo began her career as a painter with a special construction: "I'm not sick, I'm broken.

But as long as I can paint, I'm glad I'm alive," the artist commented at the time.

Frida Kahlo's life as virtual reality

There are many self-portraits by Frida Kahlo in hitherto unknown sizes.

© Morris Mac Matzen

With 36 high-performance projectors, the 45-minute show "Viva Frida Kahlo" is presented as an immersive production, so the organizers let visitors immerse themselves in virtual reality with the help of sound and moving images on all walls.

Almost all of the artist's more than 140 works flicker across the walls in a hitherto unknown size.

A woman's voice with a Spanish accent reads out diary entries.

From Frida Kahlo's birth in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, through her youth, the accident in 1927, the difficult relationship with her husband of two, Diego Rivera, to her death in 1954, the exhibition takes you through her life and work.

The texts make it clear how much the Mexican woman proved her unbroken will to live despite difficult circumstances.

The events are accompanied by music specially composed for the exhibition, mostly in the form of Spanish guitar sounds.

Sitting or wandering around - the choice is yours

Beanbags and stools invite you to linger, but with the many illustrations on the walls and a mirror block in the middle of the hall, you can hardly help but wander through the room again and again.

And some people like to stay simple after the end, to let one more round of the demonstration sink in - and perhaps to discover an overlooked detail.

Immersive exhibition “Viva Frida Kahlo”

Until February 10th: Monday to Sunday 10am-9pm.

Tickets at: muenchenticket.de