(Hi)story of a Painting is an animated VR and 360 series aimed at engaging young adult audiences with art by creating accessible and relatable experiences focused on the human stories behind some of the world’s most iconic art. The style of each episode echoes with the style of the artist’s artwork. The visuals and virtual environment of each episode appear in support of the narration, helping to illustrate and anchor the narrator’s story in the viewer’s mind – We want to inspire young and new audiences through the stories of our featured artists’ struggles and successes.
The project weaves intimate narratives about the artists behind the works of art that have come to influence our pop culture. Each episode focuses on a single artist, one of their key artworks, and their struggles against the odds to success. The experience in VR gives the viewer a chance to actively engage with the story by discovering and activating “story bonuses” as well as having a chance to appreciate a work of art in its full size.
(Hi)story of a Painting mixes a familiar and intimate tone narrated by contemporary creative influencers. Each episode uncovers themes from the artist’s context and practice that resonate with contemporary life. To that end, the series aims to contribute to the democratisation of art by engaging with and empowering viewers to better understand the art that influences our world.
The VR environment gives the viewer a sense of scale of the artwork, allowing anyone, from anywhere in the world, to form an intimate bond with each featured piece.
The overall series narrative arc will follow an artist’s winding path to success. The prototype illustrates this with a journey into the making of Georges Seurat’s La Grande Jatte and how Georges went from underdog to world-renowned artist. (Hi)story of a Painting will show that an artist can come from anywhere, and though everyone’s path is unique, that our chosen artists are linked by their journeys against the odds to becoming icons.