The digital arts center of Barcelona IDEAL brings an immersive experience unique in the world to discover the many facets of Frida Kahlo.
Frida Kahlo: La vida d’un mite reveals the surprising and inspiring life of the Mexican artist. A woman who was able to overcome all adversities thanks to her perseverance, strength, rebelliousness and talent, with an unrepeatable personality and a mentality far ahead of her time.
Jordi Sellas, director of IDEAL, has presented the immersive exhibition, which has been realized thanks to the work of seven top-level studios of artists, designers, programmers and creators of “kilometer 0” a total of 30 people, all from Poblenou. All this has also been possible thanks to Artists Rights Foundation led by Luca Benedetti, María Luisa Cárdenas and Abraham Mendoza (who passed away this summer) who carried out the artistic curatorship of the exhibition from Mexico.
The two faces of Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo: La vida d’un mite is the fourth immersive exhibition of the digital arts center and aims to show all facets of the artist. IDEAL’s presentation is totally different not only for being immersive and digital, but also for the contents it teaches.
It does not use the artist’s own works, but rather uses historical photographic collections, original films and digital art environments and installations to take a journey through the life of Frida Kahlo. It shows not only her facet as an artist, but also as a person, daughter, friend, wife, lover and woman to make known the myth that has transcended to the present day. In this way, the most relevant and important moments of her life and the key elements of her creations are shown.
The route through the life of Frida Kahlo
The exhibition has six different rooms where interactive, playful and digital activities for all audiences can be carried out.
Introductory space
The first thing we find is a passageway that serves as an introduction to the exhibition. With a typical Mexican altar full of flowers, candles and photographs of the artist, the immersion begins. As we move forward, the texts explain what Frida’s life was like to prepare us for the following rooms.
The typical Mexican altar is the first sample we see in the tour of the exhibition.
Accident Room
From the passageway we enter Room three or Accident Room. This space represents a key moment in Frida’s life, the accident that left her convalescent in bed for years and seriously affected her. Here we find two installations. The first, called El Somni, a mapping piece by Jordi Massó, tells how Kahlo was bedridden for many years and how from there she began to create her artistic imaginary.
The installation El Somni, by Jordi Massó, shows how Frida Kahlo created her artistic imaginary during her years of convalescence.
The second installation is called L’Instant and is produced by Nueveojos. It is a multilayer that shows the moment in which Frida Kahlo goes from being healthy to suffering from an illness. In a very visual way it shows how the artist “breaks” and her life changes.
Infinity Room and the Pulqueria
The fourth room is an infinity room with mirrors by Play a Bit Studio. It is one of the most familiar rooms showing elements of Frida’s art symbology where you can walk around to discover her particular artistic universe.
Room five is a recreation of the Pulquería La Rosita, where Frida taught painting. Decorated with floral tablecloths, drawings related to Frida’s paintings can be painted to decorate the installation.
Immersive Biography
Room one consists of 1000 meters of image projection and has been created by Martes Studio. In a 30-minute sequence, photographs and videos from more than 30 different archives are shown. This immersion aims to show the life of Frida Kahlo and thus show the person behind the artist.
Frida as a fashion icon
Another important facet of Frida Kahlo’s life was her importance in the world of fashion. Room six reflects that aspect. Frida used fashion as a shield. She projected her pride for Mexican culture and her roots, but at the same time she hid her reality. Under her ornate skirts she covered the leg devoured by poliomyelitis, behind her blouses she always wore the corset that straightened her back and made her uncomfortable all day long.
Frida Kahlo was not only a great artist, but she became a fashion icon with her typical Mexican outfits.
But this characteristic attire served to make her unique. Among the women, she stood out with her traditional outfits and her peasant huaraches. She quickly understood that fashion served to express herself and to distinguish herself. Frida Kahlo had a great duality. She was from the city, formed in a bourgeois environment, but her attire reflected her commitment to the peasants and the working class.
She was on the cover of Vogue magazine in 1937 and in 1939 the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli created the Madame Rivera dress in her honor. Over the years, many more designers have created collections to pay tribute to her, such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy or Valentino.
Cadavre Exquis and the photo booth
Room two, the last room, is divided into two installations. The first, called Cadavre Exquis, is one of the most powerful attractions. It is a virtual reality activity that is displayed with 3D glasses where we are shown the Mexican actress Monica Mar playing Frida Kahlo.
Finally, we have the Surrealist Living Fragments photo booth. Designed by Sergio Albiac, it transforms the face into a painting built with the typical symbology of Frida’s art, such as flowers.
The Living Fragments photomaton transforms your face into a painting with the imaginary of Frida Kahlo
IDEAL Barcelona and its commitment to digital immersion
The IDEAL center, located in Poblenou, presents the future of museums and cinemas, using technology and digital arts to create interactive exhibitions that allow you to get to know artists in a more impactful way. Located in a former theater, IDEAL opened in 2019 and since then they have held exhibitions on Monet and Klimt, as well as on the history of Barcelona through photographs.
“Frida Kahlo: la vida d’un mite” is based on digital immersion.
In an intuitive and self-taught way, each person advances through the exhibition at his or her own pace, encountering digital immersion activities, interactive activities, photographs, unpublished videos… In this way, IDEAL creates from audiovisual projections, augmented reality, virtual reality and holography a new relationship between art and society.
Start November 30, 2021 to February 2022
Doctor Trueta Street, 196-198, 08005 Barcelona
Images courtesy of IDEAL Barcelona and Horse Magazine.
