So, I went to Van Gogh Alive in Mall Taman Anggrek, Jakarta last — last Sunday, July 16th, 2023. My friends and I chose the time in the morning at 11 AM, I think the time is pretty convenient. There were not many people and on the way to Mall Taman Anggrek was considerably quiet, no traffic, and parking was still pretty much available. It only took half an hour for me to get there, compared to a typical day it would take an hour or more.
My friends and I were the first to queue exactly in front of the door, and there was no long queue. They allowed us to go in about ten minutes before 11 a.m. Before entering the hall, the staff scanned the barcode and then exchanged it for a physical ticket. If you happen to lose the ticket inside, shouldn’t a be problem because they won’t check again inside.
Once inside, the first room is the replica of Van Gogh’s infamous bedroom with a brief biography, his portrait, and quotes of his on the wall. Yeah, I gotta say seeing the wall and the ceiling kinda disappointing. There’s a black spot like fungus on the wall, a ragged and uneven patched wall, I could see pipes and cable on the ceiling and some of the stickers started to peel from the wall. I’m not sure if those wall stickers will likely stick until October.
Then to the second room, the sunflower room. As the master himself said,
“Sunflower is mine, in a way”.
The sunflower room is pretty small but I could still move around and took selfies. The room is surrounded by a mirror wall, creating an infinity room. The yellow translucent beamed enveloping the room as a whole.
Van Gogh Alive Jakarta by Medium
“How lovely yellow is! It stands for the Sun.”
He’s an Aries, an exalted Sun. No wonder he liked anything yellow and Sun.
The third room is a brief history and explanation of Van Gogh’s various works, from The Starry Night, Sunflower, and his portrait. This exhibition room is pretty similar to the first room, the panels are pretty broken and frayed. The room is pretty simple.
Then we had to wait for the immersive room or the screen room, where they showed us Van Gogh’s painting through a projector. We had to wait for the previous batch to finish.
In this room, I spent almost half an hour. I think in Jakarta the show is kinda different than in other countries, where the people scatter and stroll around, able to take pictures at different sites. Instead, we had to sit down during the whole show, it was like watching a movie. Maybe their temporary solution after the previous chaotic week, I’m not sure. Personally, it was good and just alright. I would like to walk around, seeing the painting from different points of view. I was wearing a white t-shirt, and it would be great if I could take a picture with Van Gogh’s painting projected onto my t-shirt. But if I did that, I would be blocking people’s view and it would be embarrassing to be side-eyed by others. But, I was able to comfortably watch almost all his paintings in one sitting and focus.
I thought that was gonna lullaby me but no, I didn’t even yawn even though the music was alluring. So I think this showcase room is really the main event. I saw some of his works I’d never seen before, but they didn’t show his very last paintings when he had dementia. Maybe out of respect or I don’t know, but the shift in his paintings still showing. Since it’s an immersive experience, it had the smell of, hmm…, I’m not so sure how to describe it but like a plank of old wood, an old painting smell combined with a smell of flowers that I don’t know.
I was sitting nearby a pole screen showing delicate quotes from Van Gogh, here are some of the beautiful ones I managed to take.
The next room is the light room, maybe what it is called. It’s pretty similar to the sunflower room but this one fills with a decorative Christmas tree-like bulb hanging from the ceiling. Fascinating enough, the floor is cackling. I mean like, every time I stepped, it created a cackling sound just like that Pop Rocks candy popping in your mouth. I think it’s kinda cool because the floor is the painting of The Starry Night. So it’s like we’re in the painting, experiencing a crisp dark night but still stunningly glistening by the effervescent star lights.
The last room is the merch room, they’re selling scarves, puzzles, painting by number, postcards, tumblers, and many more. But I didn’t buy any, really wanted to buy the puzzle though but maybe next time hehe.
Oh, in the merch room, there’s a photo booth but if that one is crowded, there’s another one outside the hall. Should be the same, the price is Rp 50.000 and you get two printed photos of three poses. Can send it to your email as well.
So, all in all, the experience was alright. The whole setup just felt like they were in a hurry, would be better if they really could get a whole building for this and not inside the mall. It was great because I could see Van Gogh’s painting that I hadn’t seen before. I appreciate how they handled the first chaotic week though and now trying to implement what’s best for the exhibition. For the crowd management, I won’t complain but the set-up can be better.
Reference: https://medium.com/@amlmrznt/van-gogh-alive-in-jakarta-ea2b3d4038ef