Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Chloë Ashby

Mummy, is this a video game? The dangers of showing kids art on a screen

Visitors at Frameless immersive art experience exploring projected artwork at Marble Arch
Moments of beauty and ingenuity … Frameless – the immersive, multidimensional art experience. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

You know Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights? That psychedelic triptych chock-a-block with creatures real and imagined and the monstrosities of hell? Well, my toddler and I are in it. To be precise, we’re slap-bang in the middle of the cosmic central panel, which is projected on to the wide walls around us, as well as the ceiling and the floor. There are naked men and women riding bareback on ducks and deer and horses. Camels and cattle. Butterflies and birds. Pale legs lolling from a shell.

This is our first trip to Frameless, an immersive art experience near Marble Arch in London that bills itself as a place “where art breaks free”. Call me a traditionalist, but digital art isn’t usually my thing. I enjoyed David Hockney at the Lightroom, where I also took my son to see the dinosaurs – the day we went, the audience was almost exclusively made up of tots and their adults. But I prefer paintings to be still rather than animated. I like to concentrate on a canvas rather than watch it deconstruct and dissolve. I want art to be meaningful and long-lasting. Tangible. Real.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.