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Fridamania

Open Your Eyes to the Humanity, Audacity, and Mexicanity

WORDS BY EBONI FREEMAN | ILLUSTRATION BY KALYA RAMU | LIGHTHOUSE IMMERSIVE

FEB, 2022 | ISSUE 8

Frida: Immersive Dream
Vicente Fusco by Kalya Ramu
Frida: Immersive Dream

Do you remember that moment between your dream ending and your eyes opening? The liminal feeling of being between realities lingers as you decide to wake up, get up, and start your day. Immersive experiences have the power to transport us to that moment where dreams rendezvous with reality.


From Toronto to Los Angeles, Kahlo’s work has the power to reach into the cultural consciousness of fans and take them on a multimedia adventure from Coyoacán to San Francisco. Frida: Immersive Dream is the format for reunification that many people have been looking for since the pandemic; what better than the exhibit of an

artist whose work, lifestyle, and public image combined to create a worldwide Fridamania. Frida Kahlo’s ethereal energy could be just what we need to open up, stand out, and drift into our wildest dreams.


Lighthouse Immersive’s Frida: Immersive Dream transports you to the center of  Fridando—known by Frida Kahlo’s fans as the state of living like Frida. With more than five biopics, 30 books, 48 albums, 102 podcast episodes, and 1.2 million Instagram followers dedicated to her enchanting achievements, Vicente Fusco, Director of Business Development at Lighthouse Immersive, has identified a wonder star of the past who still lights up our sky. Fusco joins smART Magazine to chronicle the evolution of this immersive event.

What is Frida: Immersive Dream?


“Immersive Van Gogh was such a massive event, such a breath of fresh air, right?” explains Fusco. “Van Gogh set the bar so high. In our minds, there are very few artists that have such a…powerful and vast reach. There's just a few icons in the world of art that are pop by consent.” With her face adorning Etsy napkins and her likeness featured in Disney movies, Kahlo’s aesthetic shines as a beacon of remix culture—a starting point for burgeoning creatives seeking to produce broadly appealing content. “We had to really try and do what we've been doing in our other immersive shows with an icon like Frida Kahlo. Everyone will be very surprised with the amazing work that Massimiliano did with this.” Frida: Immersive Dream will be the third Lighthouse Immersive installation crafted by famed Italian film producer and exhibition designer Massimiliano Siccardi. Utilizing a genre-bending formula to craft the show’s layout, Massimiliano’s production personifies the compelling subtextual reveal perfected by Kahlo.


“For us, Frida Kahlo...is an artist that was so ahead of her time, somebody that is so relevant today, 75 years since her death. I feel personally involved being Mexican but, more so, if we dwell into the immersive experience, I think the immersive show is a new art form.” According to the 2020 Immersive Industry Annual report by Pseudonym Productions, the experiential arts began as recently as the year 2000. By capitalizing on the geographic concepts prominent in Kahlo’s 29-year oeuvre, Fusco crafts a layered experience across space and time. “In the show, there's a great representation of Mexico in its history, in its colour, in its strength, and in its folklore. This show will bring a lot of the elements of what Mexican culture is.”


What are the similarities and differences between Immersive Van Gogh and Frida: Immersive Dream?


“What Massimiliano does is he interprets the artist's work; it was Massimiliano’s interpretation of what he wanted to showcase on Van Gogh. And now he's doing the same with Frida. It's such a different mindset and such a different creation that it's a fantastic showcase, not only of what Massimiliano is capable of doing. It's also a showcase of what these immersive experiences can be.” Here, Fusco intimates new modes of narrative dissection between creator and spectator when presented with the nearly century-old masterpieces. Exhibit attendees will use the immersive landscape to identify clues, discuss theories, and uncover the woman behind the art and the art behind the woman. “I believe that the Frida show will have its own life because Frida’s life is one thing, and van Gogh’s life is something so different. It amazingly captures what Frida was as an artist and as a human being.”

Frida: Immersive Dream

Is the immersive realm ready for Frida Kahlo?


“When you're listening to music, and you feel emotional, it has a certain feel. If you're watching a movie and you get goosebumps, it's a different feel. The visual experience gives you a unique feeling. The aural experience also gives you a certain feeling. So too, do these immersive experiences give you a completely different feeling. It's a new form of art where it’s not only visual and audio, but the architecture also plays a very important role.” By describing the immersive realm’s role as a sensory playground, Fusco connects the show’s well-constructed visceral stimulations with the artistic sensations embodied in Kahlo’s work. “I think Frida had a very tough life. Frida had an amazing life. It's amazing what one could accomplish so many years ago. You see her travel, her experiences, all the people she met. She lived in the U.S. for a little while. She did exhibits in art galleries in Paris. She accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.” Whether it’s a stroll through the lives of people she loved—such as Portrait of My Father—or vignettes glimpsing into the vitality of passersby—such as in The Bus—Kahlo’s work captured the essence of her 47 years on Earth.


“And she also suffered a lot on a personal level. She had a terrible accident when she was very young. Her life changed