When my photographer friend suggested I might want to visit the Arte Museum in NYC on a recent trip, I was immediately curious. What is this and where?
I found out when I headed there on my first unscheduled morning.
The Arte Museum is part of a new and blossoming trend in the art world to make enjoying art work more interactive.
Designed to be felt, these dedicated spaces feature large scale projections on all the surfaces combined with music
They blend 21st-century technology with the visual arts, offering interactive, AI-driven, or projection-mapped exhibitions.
I was no stranger to this concept having visited teamLab in Tokyo and Atelier des Lumières in Paris.
The rise of dedicated digital venues
The history goes back to the 1960’s when digital art started to appear. The turning point was in 2018 when teamLab Borderless opened in Tokyo. Now they are popping up all over.
Clearly this is a new way to experience art. The dedicated digital museums took off when creators stopped trying to put digital art in standard frames and instead used visual images to consume entire rooms.
Arte Museum in NYC is produced by a group from Korea.
https://newyork.artemuseum.com/
A new one in L.A. just opened its doors. DATALAND.
https://dataland.art/
You can visit one in Indianapolis Art Museum called the Lume.
https://www.grande-experiences.com/permanent/the-lume-indianapolis
Arte Museum in NYC
So, let me tell you about the Arte Museum in NYC. It is located on Pier 61 on the west side of Manhattan near the High Line.
it costs $55-65 to get in and you probably don’t need more than an hour to enjoy. There’s also a cafe. The cost compares to $30 for most museums in the city. So, yes, there are criticisms of the cost on travel forums.
I was glad I went at the opening time when I didn’t feel crowded. I’d recommend doing that along with avoiding weekends.
The Arte Museum consists of a series of rooms with large projections that move and swirl around you, often adapting to your movements. The theme for the most part is nature—crashing waves, dramatic waterfalls, dreamy Northern Lights and so on.
I liked the enchanted forest where wild animals appeared and faded away mysteriously.
I spent a lot of time in the mesmerizing purple tornado space capturing folks playing with the swirls.
Muse’ des Orsay
The deviation from this theme occurred in a large space, where projections from the Muse de Orsay Collection in Paris swirled about.I didn’t think it was quite as good as the Atelier des Lumières in Paris which features known artists but certainly enjoyable.
This experience certainly raises questions about the future direction of art museums. More discussion is needed.
As one might expect, visitors had fun playing with their cameras. I certainly did.
Little Island
Near the Arte Museum, Little Island beckoned so I hustled there after my stint with digital art walking by a famous Frank Gehry building often referred to as the Marshmallow.
The Little Island is a new feature in NYC, built entirely with private funds to replace the derelict Pier 54.
That Pier historically was the Canard shipping pier. It was supposed to welcome the Titanic, instead R.M.S Carpathia ocean liner docked at this pier, bringing back survivors from the Titanic’s tragic voyage.
Little Island cost $260 million to build and is created on 132 concrete tulips in different shapes and sizes. It is filled with places to sit, paths to follow, a piano to play and an amphitheater for concerts or sunset watching.
What a little delight. It is definitely worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
