16 June 2024 – Immersed. Immersed in “immersive exhibitions.” Cascades of sound, visuals and high-tech wizardry. The global phenomenon of Imagine Van Gogh, for example.

Tchaa! Nature got there long before high tech.

For proof, just stand near the corner of East 8th and Brunswick, one sunny mid-June afternoon, and look up.

“All greens,” I whisper to myself, as Miles Davis’ 1959 jazz great, All Blues, begins to run in my mind. I fall into those enveloping greens for a while, with cascades of sound in my head — a mixture of jazz riffs and leaf-rustle — and cascades of motion before my eyes, thanks to the breeze.

But there’s nuthin’ wrong with a little high-tech, come to that.

The next day I hop a SkyTrain out to Port Moody (POMO to its friends) for the 2024 Art Shuffle. Where, at the corner of Moody and Spring streets, I jump into “an immersive electronic art walkthrough,” courtesy of Dusk2Dawn Productions studio.

Immersive and interactive as well: sweep your arms before all those pink flower petals, and they swirl to your choreography. The gestures needn’t be large. Even a simple finger-flick evokes a rivulet of motion on-screen. Charmed, I stand there and dance with the petals.

I can do this in the absence of crowds or commotion, because I am early. Pre-Shuffle, as t’were. They are still setting up, and I have the venue to myself.

It is the perfect omen. As I write this post, I am still in set-up for a Shuffle of my own.

Is that a tease?

Yes it is.