I managed to go see the Monet Immersive Experience with only a couple of weeks before it closed. The venue was The Boiler House (off) Brick Lane and I combined the visit with a quick look up and down the lane at the street art. As I had been to Leake Street earlier in the week,I gave it a miss on this visit to Waterloo.
The underground journey to Liverpool Street was the usual wait for Circle Line trains. This time I had to wait for the fourth train before a Circle Line train came into Embankment.
The food stall by the statue of the goat on Brushfield Street had a large crowd queuing – clearly a popular food venue. The food stalls inside Spitalfields Market were equally as busy. I went back out onto Commercial Street. Lunch would have to wait!
Brick Lane
My first surprise was on Fashion Street where the wall painted by Dreph now had a large window and the mural was no more. This art was further down the street and was well worth a closer look.
Off Brick Lane, Seven Stars Yard is now cordoned off at the end and apart from looking at a huge jumble of past-ups on the walls I didn’t see anything to catch my eye.
A couple of guys were busy cleaning the walls…
I walked back up Brick Lane as the entrance to the Boiler House is off Buxton Street.
Claude Monet: The Immersive Experience
I had a cursory check with a security guard at the entrance who asked if I had a ticket. There was then in front of me a large open space with benches and opposite art on the wall.
To the right is a metal staircase which later I had to descend when I left the shop on my way out. I could have bought a drink at the the window on the right as I entered but I decided I would rather start the experience.
My printed ticket was scanned and I was waved in. On the walls there were panels that described Monet’s art as well as his history. I checked out the panels and then went through a doorway protected by hanging sheets of wide plastic.
Inside was a room with a ‘Japanese’ bridge and information about the Monet garden at Givenchy.
Through the next doorway was a room with its walls covered with replicas of Monet’s art.
Then through another doorway with wide hanging plastic I entered the Monet experience itself.
The Experience
This was a large space. In front of me in the middle of the space was a cube that stretched up to the ceiling. Music was coming from all around me and I walked to my left looking for somewhere to sit and to get my bearings.
All around the cube the walls of the space had images projected. The sides of the cube also had images too.
The images on the walls did not look to be related to what I was seeing on the cube side in front of me. So I moved further round so that I could see a wall to my left, a part of a wall in front and a side of the cube. This is when I sat down on a deck chair to take in what I was seeing.
The projector puting the images onto the wall behind me was dazzling and I had to make sure to be looking away to one side to be able to see the images opposite me.
As the images changed sometimes they moved to the right, simply vanished or bit by bit ‘melted’ into another image. At times ‘bubbles’ rose up or parts of the images were ‘animated’ – all holding my attention closely.
I moved again and sat with my back to a side of the central cube facing one of the outsides walls of the space.
A whole series of paintings moved around the space.
The wall in front of me became a station and trains came and went interspersed with Monet’s paintings of trains.
This sequence was when I had entered into the space as trains had been on the cube. I stayed a while longer as I wanted to see the images on the walls in this part of the cycle.
These were some of the deck chairs along the walls. Optionally there were bean bags scattered around.
Rooms upstairs in The Boiler House
Through another doorway I met a security guard who directed me up a narrow steep staircase. In the first room was a group of tables with other visitors earnestly colouring line drawings of Monet’s art.
The next room was where visitors could experience the art as a virtual reality experience for another fee.The last room was an extensive gift shop. I left down the steep metal fire escape to the yard below.
I did some more exploring off Brick Lane on my way back to Liverpool Street.
Liverpool Street
In the station I bought a sandwich and sat at the far end of the concourse looking at all the building work at the rear of the station. Then it was back to the Underground to wait for a Circle Line train.
