Brooklyn Museum Launches Immersive Rotunda Experience for Monet and Venice

January 2, 2026 by guest author, John Berkovich

The Brooklyn Museum has opened Monet and Venice, the largest exhibition in New York City to focus on Claude Monet in over two decades. Running through February 1, 2026, the exhibition features 100 works by Monet and contemporaries, including 19 Venetian paintings by Monet.

Monet’s works emphasize light, reflection, color, and architecture, reflecting his concept of the “enveloppe,” which captures the shifting atmosphere and passage of time through repetition and changing light.

To introduce visitors to these ideas, the Museum commissioned Hyperquake’s Experiences Team to transform its central rotunda into a multisensory prelude to the exhibition. The immersive installation translates Monet’s enveloppe into a spatial experience designed to prepare visitors for their visit to the galleries.

“I wanted to create an introductory moment in the exhibition that would transport visitors to Venice and surround them with the vistas, shimmering reflections, and magnificent architecture that enchanted Monet in 1908,” said Lisa Small, Senior Curator of European Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

Hyperquake collaborated with Joan Porcel Studio to produce a five-minute panoramic film following a full day in Venice, from sunrise to sunset. The content is projection-mapped across four freestanding walls over 10 feet tall, along with two 24-foot projections within the rotunda, complemented by lighting effects that evoke rippling water and shifting light.

The experience also includes a custom soundscape created with the Museum’s former composer-in-residence, Niles Luther, incorporating field recordings from Venice, as well as a custom fragrance developed by Joya Studio.

“Our goal was to immerse visitors in Venice so they could experience the same interplay of light and atmosphere that inspired Monet,” said Mary Franck, Experiential Creative Director at Hyperquake.

Hyperquake led the design, AV integration, and projection planning for the installation, creating a seamless digital and physical introduction that deepens visitor engagement with Monet’s Venetian works.