How Does Van Gogh Comes Alive in an Immersive Art Space in India

The debate between artificial intelligence and artistic authenticity has reached a new crescendo in India's cultural landscape. As the immersive art space proliferates across the country, the question isn't whether AI belongs in art, but how it can enhance rather than replace human creativity. The recent Van Gogh and Da Vinci immersive show hosted by Legends Immersive Cinema at DLF Promenade, Delhi, offered a fascinating glimpse into this evolving relationship.

According to analysis by Grand View Research, the global AI art market, valued at approximately $3.2 billion in 2024, is projected to reach $40.4 billion by 2033, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 28.9%. India is increasingly becoming a significant player in this transformation, with venues experimenting with AI-enhanced exhibitions that challenge traditional notions of art consumption.

From the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's WAVES AI Innovation Challenge to Nature Morte, India's AI art landscape extends beyond immersive exhibitions to encompass digital preservation and reinterpretation of cultural heritage. Similarly, Google Arts & Culture recently launched an AI-powered experience in India, Explore Elephanta Caves, which uses advanced 3D scanning and generative AI to recreate the 1500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site.

These initiatives demonstrate how AI is being deployed not merely for entertainment but as a tool for cultural preservation and education, where a Van Gogh painting comes to life.

The Technical Revolution Behind the Canvas

Traditional museums exist for decades with modest budgets and build permanent collections and education efforts. In contrast, these immersive experiences require ongoing technology replenishment, ongoing equipment upgrades, as well as immediate licensing fees for each experience.

At the heart of the Legends experience lies a complex ecosystem of technology that Tabish F. Khan, Founder of Theia Enterprise India and organiser of the Van Gogh and Da Vinci immersive experience, describes as revolutionary. "These are actually considered as digital museums," Khan explains, addressing the fundamental shift in audience expectations. "There was a trend that saw that people don't travel and go to museums anymore. Children are not very excited because they don't get involved in the museum walkthrough."

The technical specifications reveal the scale of this ambition. Thirty-five laser projectors work in concert with 13 interactive LiDAR sensors, powered by what Khan calls "the Rolls-Royce of the server industry", Disguise servers, imported directly from Europe. "There is very limited availability of these servers in India, but four of them are with us here."

A compelling demonstration of AI integration occurs during interaction with the Mona Lisa. "When you talk with Mona Lisa, it does not matter in what language you are talking. You can talk to her in any language and she'll respond back in that language," Khan reveals.

While increased access to content is a positive democratising experience, does it justify the environmental impact, where maybe a single immersive show can often use more electricity in some months than an entire year of museum gallery use is a question that remains unanswered. 

The Complex Interplay of AI and Nuances of Usage

The novelty of using an AI-powered Mona Lisa, while impressive, raises questions about what it means to engage authentically with culture. When patrons interact with a chatbot trained on contemporary data rather than Leonardo's own thoughts, are they really engaging with Renaissance art, or are they simply interacting with a sophisticated simulation? 

India's entry into AI-enhanced art experiences follows a global trend. TeamLab Planets in Tokyo set a Guinness World Record for attendance, welcoming more than 2.5 million visitors in its debut year, whilst Artechouse welcomed 2.3 million visitors from over 160 countries within one year of opening, attracting more attendees than the famous Pablo Picasso Museum in Barcelona.

The immersive technology market is estimated to grow to $134.18 billion by 2030, up from $21.66 billion in 2021, suggesting a compound annual growth rate of 22.46%, as per a report by Presedence Research. This explosive growth indicates a fundamental shift in how audiences consume cultural content.

Navigating the Authenticity Dilemma

The tension between technological innovation and artistic integrity remains central to these productions. Khan acknowledges this challenge directly: "There are a lot of AI videos that you can probably see on Vincent Van Gogh, which somewhere made Vincent Van Gogh's art in itself lose its charm, which we never wanted to do. So, we tried to keep his brush strokes like the way it's supposed to be."

This approach reflects a broader industry concern. The production involved more than 100 animators working across multiple studios, ensuring that technological enhancement didn't overshadow artistic authenticity. "We tried to keep his art alive. We tried to keep the paintings the way it is," Khan emphasises.

Khan's observations about Indian audience behaviour provide crucial insights into why these experiences resonate locally. "We Indians have got a way of judging something with the help of touch. There is a usual behaviour of us Indians to touch, feel, smell and all that," he notes, explaining the success of interactive elements.

The LiDAR technology transforms ordinary surfaces into responsive interfaces, creating what Khan describes as an entirely new experience for Indian audiences: "They were first amazed at how this plywood wall has actually become a touchscreen, like a mobile phone touchscreen. So, which is very new for an Indian audience."

Ethical Considerations In Future of Immersive Experiences

Looking ahead, Khan envisions even more sophisticated AI integration in the immersive art: "We have another element, where you can ask Da Vinci to go ahead and create any of the paintings, like the way you want it to be." He provides a specific example: "If you want to say, Mona Lisa standing on a Howrah bridge, it actually generates an image with Mona Lisa standing on a Howrah bridge, and gives you a picture right on your mobile."

Something similar has been attempted closely by MAP Academy’s MF Husain Experience. The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) pioneered "The AI Husain Experience," which used machine learning algorithms to analyse M.F. Husain's artistic style and generate new works in his distinctive manner. This project brings across significant debate about authorship and authenticity in the art world, with critics questioning whether AI-generated works could truly capture the emotional depth of the legend's original paintings.

Khan addresses this directly, "We tried to go ahead and blend AI with the art, but the whole purpose of this show was not to go ahead and showcase what we can do with the help of AI. We took assistance from AI, but, however, the main purpose of this show is to bring in the art which those artists made, keeping a true essence of it."

The proliferation of AI in the Indian immersive art space has generated considerable academic and critical discussion. As MAP Academy notes in their analysis of AI art in India, the technology raises fundamental questions about creativity, originality, and the role of human intervention in artistic creation — similar questions that were raised by the experts and the artists recently after the Studio Ghibli recreationa through AI gained trend on social media. 

The debate becomes particularly complex when dealing with works of deceased masters like Husain, where AI algorithms trained on existing paintings create new compositions that never existed in the artist's lifetime.