With the rapid rise in technology, forms of high-tech digital art, or experiential (interactive) art are flourishing. Consumers can be connected to their brands in a way now, unlike any before. The expansion of digital experiential art, one that allows its attendee or audience to interact directly with it, creates a new connection between the consumer and the brand itself. The simple fascination, sheer beauty and absolute creativity that arise with this style of art (and marketing) is changing the way that brands interact with the consumers themselves.

Consumers can now ‘participate’ at such art exhibitions and special events, like digital experiential art. They can engage so effortlessly, by simply being able to take part in the experience or event, and this often moves them to take photos and to share their experience with others. As you can imagine, this can be positively contagious! What really seems to be at the essence of it all, is a sense of permission for consumers/attendees to partake in their own creativity.

Experiential Art and Marketing In Action

Art events that are interactive have been popping up everywhere all over the globe. This is a colorful and captivating high-tech digital art. It is interactive and experiential, bringing to life both fairy tale and real-life things such as walking through a room full of human-sized cotton candy, to a room of floating clouds to images, or of colorful life-like detailed, beauteous images of nature scenes projected full scale in a wide open room.

Instagram famous rooms by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (89 years old), Infinity Mirrors, All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins and My Eternal Soul may have set the tone for the transformation into a more experiential art form. These rooms, as told by The Travel Channel, encompass more than 60 years of this artist’s work. Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors was one of the earlier works (1965) where the artist transformed previous paintings into a perceptual experience, and eventually offered a chance to step into an illusion of space as a part of the installation.

Today, the Chicago Tribune  tells us about some of the most sought after exhibits. For one, there’s The Dream Machine in Brooklyn, a playful 10 room installation. According to the Chicago Tribune, here, you might find yourself in a laundromat eating candy, touching the ‘clouds’, or literally jumping into a massive ball bit, or walking through a confetti curtain. Not your average day, I’m betting.

Next, in both Miami and San Francisco, The Museum of Ice Cream has almost 400,000 followers. This is a pop-up exhibit, traditional for experiential event marketing. In this exhibit, a gummy bear garden, a banana swing and pool full of sprinkles. Actual delicious treats accompany this exhibit.

Similarly, the Dessert Museum in the Philippines was opened to draw sweet lovers into their eight, sugar coated rooms. You’ll find a doughnuts room and a place to cotton candy pick through a cotton candy forest! To keep the taste buds robust, appropriate dessert samples accompany the themed rooms.

A largely popular experiential art exhibit The Color Factory, that spent 8 successful months in San Francisco, according to Bustle.  Bustle says that the rooms at this exhibit are “aggressively hands-on.” You may find yourself popping balloons, throwing down on the dance floor and indulging in sweet treats to match each experience. It did so well that it opened in New York City in August of 2018. The installation Candytopia from Santa Monica was also opened in New York City as well; I’m sure you can see that sweets are a very common theme here!

Of course we can’t forget Los Angeles’ look at a Rain Room, designed by Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass from a London based art collective. They created a seamless blend of science, visual art, and technology — and water! This installation is the perfect example of allowing the attendees to immerse themselves in a lifelike storm, without actually getting wet. What better way to provide an example of the type of experience that these exhibits offer than this? The Los Angeles Times quoted the Los Angeles Museum County of Art Director, “Who wouldn’t like rain in the middle of Southern California right now? It’s poetically beautiful, the image just seemed so right.”

Instagram famous rooms by Yayoi Kusama (89 years old), Infinity Mirrors, All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins and My Eternal Soul. These rooms, as told by The Travel Channel, encompass more than 60 years of this artist’s work.

Internationally, the MORI Building Digital Art Museum created Borderless in Tokyo’s Odaiba district, which combines science, art, the natural world and technology. According to the Smithsonian, the creators of this museum say it is the world’s largest that is dedicated to digital, interactive art. There are over 50 interactive displays with over 107,000 square feet of space. The Smithsonian points out that the name of the exhibit itself speaks to limiting barriers — within the museum itself, between the art installations themselves, and on a deeper level, between the art itself and visitors and among each person, too.

The Art Science Museum and TeamLab in Singapore also opened Future World. This is uniquely a permanent exhibit that will evolve over time to maintain relevant.

Digital Art’s Role in Experiential Marketing

Bizzabo, an event marketing and management software found that “Most event marketers believe that events are the single most effective marketing channel (31%) over digital advertising, email marketing and content marketing.” This outlines that many high performing brands rely on live events as their strategy. Adweek quotes Surkus CEO, Stephen George, “…consumers see companies as people — they know that live events attach a face to the brand and humanize it.” This humanization is a good example of breaking down a barrier, as was referred to in the exhibit in Japan, Borderless.

Eventbrite cites a recent industry study which shows that 79 percent of brand respondents would execute more experiential programs this year (compared to last year). We can see the amount of digital experiential art exhibits growing, and along with it the evolution of the way that brands are connecting to their consumers; not to mention the attraction of such exhibits because of the way they are experienced and shared with the world.