It was like entering the sets of the 2017 award-winning animated film, Loving Vincent. The Van Gogh 360, an immersive art experience, debuted in India with its Mumbai leg on January 20. Situated at World Trade Centre, it is a huge set up, almost resembling a pandal covered in black cloth right in the middle of the parking space. At 10.30 am on a Friday, we imagined the footfalls would be scant but close to 50 visitors were inside to experience the work of the Dutch post-impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh.

There may be hype around this exhibition, but it is not the city’s first brush with immersive art. Last year, the Mumbai Light Festival, a brain child of art tech startup Floating Canvas Company and Maharashtra Tourism, stamped its name on this genre. Besides immersive art installations, they used light as a medium too—like the tetrapods at Girgaon Chowpatty which were a public art installation by light artist Ivan Kalinichev from Kyrgyzstan.