If you missed spring's cherry blossoms or want to see them again, trip on over to Artechouse, a great escape a few steps from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and not far from the Wharf in southwest D.C.
At this hi-tech light and sound show, manmade flowers hang and surround a cherry blossom lane in a whim of fantasy only on view two days before coronavirus shut it down early in March.
But, the blossoms are back to help restore some sense of "normalcy" (we hope) to the nation's capital amidst disease outbreak.
Artechouse is a make-believe, interactive world ("way down below") of lights, music, and art which invites guests to "let loose" and hang out your mojo, have a good time and forget about what's outside..
Not that Artechouse has forgotten coronavirus and what's happening. Social distancing practice and masks are required here with plenty of hand sanitizers stationed throughout the galleries which the staff constantly cleans in an unobtrusive way.
Artechouse's Hanami invites guests to drift, roam, escape/Photo by Patricia Leslie
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This is 3-D space where no one needs to don special glasses since waving limbs and open minds command floating images which respond to human movements and more. (You may stick arms and legs out, hokey pokey style, if anyone in this mostly 30-somethings age group knows what that is.)
The exhibit is called Hanami: Beyond the Blooms created by New York Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu
who juxtaposes science, technology, and art in her show.
Hanami to Japanese is the week-long flowering and enjoyment of the short-lived beauty of nature's world. Japan's annual celebration of this springtime splendor has been celebrated for centuries with feast, festivals and big parties.
The designers have digitized Ms. Shimizu's ink drawings to replicate them on huge floor-to-ceiling screens. Lidar technology interacts with visitor movements to swirl and answer with creations which follow human direction. Guests create and participate in their own fantastical worlds, wherever minds may soar.
Artechouse has four galleries for the exhibition with one devoted to taiko drums, a Japanese tradition which calls forth kami "the divine beings that ward away evil spirits," (several doses are helpful) that when touched, light up. (Kind of like people.)
Ms. Shimizu, the author of several books whose works are found in collections around the world, teaches at New York's School of Visual Arts and was chosen by Newsweek Japan to its list of "100 Japanese People the World Respects."
According to Sandro Kereselidze, co-founder and chief creative officer of Artechouse: "Art, we feel, is truly essential right now. It can provide a respite from the chaos that surrounds us, inspire us, transport us. We hope Hanami can help our audiences experience joy and inspiration as we enter this new phase of reopening."
Many nations celebrate hanami, including Finland, Italy, the Phillipines, China, Taiwan, and Korea, and American cities like, besides Washington, Macon, Georgia, Newark, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York which host cherry blossom festivals, too.
What: Hanami: Beyond the Blooms
When: Now through Sept. 7, 2020. Monday - Thursday, 12 - 8 p.m. (with last session at 7 p.m.) Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.- 10 p.m. (last session at 9 p.m.)
Where: Artechouse, 1238 Maryland Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20024, between the Smithsonian and L'Enfant Plaza Metro stations; a few steps from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
Admission: Adults, $19(online), $24 (onsite); students, seniors, and military, $15/$20; children, $12/$17; families (two parents, two children), $45. Reserve at artechouse.com.
Smithsonian Metro station: Exit 12th and Independence Avenue; walk 10 minutes (.3 mile).
For more information: No telephone number found. Email: tickets@artechouse.com.
patricialesli@gmail.com
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