ARTNET AG "Frida would be very happy," one family member said.
Sarah Cascone, February 11, 2022
Frida Kahlo's great grandniece, who worked for a year to help produce "Immersive Frida Kahlo," the digitally animated light show based on the great Surrealist's work, says she is overwhelmed with joy by the exhibition.
Mara Romero Kahlo, the granddaughter of Cristina Kahlo, Kahlo's sister, and Mara's daughter, Mara De Anda, traveled to Boston for the opening of the show, which incorporates not only Kahlo's art, but also family snapshots and historical photographs from her lifespan.
"I was crying in the moment," Mara Kahlo, who serves as president of the Fundación Familia Kahlo, told Artnet News. "You feel our family, the heart of Frida, the music, the emotion, everything-it's spectacular."
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
The touring Kahlo exhibition, which will travel to nine cities, is the latest offering from producer Massimiliano Siccardi, the organizer of the blockbuster "Immersive Van Gogh," as well as "Immersive Klimt: Revolution." And there are already imitators: "Mexican Geniuses: A Frida and Diego Immersive Experience" opens in London and Washington, D.C. in the spring.
Organizers told Artnet News that the decision to incorporate biographical and historical information into the Kahlo display was not a response to criticisms that the Van Gogh show glossed over his mental health issues and ultimate suicide.
"Absolutely not," Svetlana Dvoretsky, co-founder of Lighthouse Immersive, the company organizing North American tours of Siccardi's productions, told Artnet News. "Frida is a representation of so many aspects of social and political issues in modern history. Massimiliano felt the special importance of showing who she was as a human being and a person, not just her art. Frida is Frida and Van Gogh is Van Gogh."
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
Kahlo's family-which launched a legal campaign against toymaker Mattel in 2018 when it made a non-unibrowed Kahlo Barbie-also gave its stamp of approval to "Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva," a similar production staged last summer in Mexico City by the National Bank of Mexico Citibanamex and OCESA, a Mexican promotion company. But Mara Kahlo and De Anda were especially moved by Siccardi's approach.
"We were very confident that Massimo would deliver a wonderful experience," De Anda told Artnet News. "And you're really immersed. You feel in some parts a little dizzy, with the music and the marvelous way that they used the technology."
In Boston, the exhibition sprawls over 500,000 cubic feet and includes reproductions of masterpieces such as The Two Fridas, The Wounded Deer, and Diego and I. Tickets start at $39.
"Frida would be very happy that art has evolved to [include] this technology, which is used magnificently," De Anda said. "She is like this exhibition, revolutionary."
See more photos from the exhibition below.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
"Immersive Frida Kahlo." Photo by Kyle Flubacker.
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artnet AG published this content on 11 February 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 February 2022 14:57:04 UTC.
