The Company That Presented One of Those Immersive Van Gogh Things Is Bankrupt

Just when you thought the whole competing Immersive Van Gogh exhibitions couldn't get more confusing, another wrench gets dropped into the gears.

Lighthouse Immersive, the Canadian company behind traveling art exhibitions such as The Immersive Van Gogh Experience, which came through Dallas in 2021 and 2022, doesn't look like it will make a return trip anytime soon. The company filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy on July 27 in Delaware, according to federal bankruptcy court records.

In its petition, the company listed over 80 entities "against whom provisional relief is being sought" despite claims on its website that it "sold millions of tickets" for immersive exhibitions in cities including Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and others. The company also hosts immersive exhibitions for the works of Mexico folk artist Frida Kahlo and French impressionist Claude Monet.

These "immersive" experiences presented the most famous works of classic and influential artists projected on walls that moved and changed shape to choreographed music. The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit Dallas was presented in the former Dallas Masonic Temple on South Harwood Street. A competing experience in Arlington run by a separate entity called Van Gogh The Immersive Experience Dallas ran in Choctaw Stadium around the same time, causing some confusion among visitors and people who spotted advertisements for the events in their Facebook and other social media feeds.

A hearing regarding Lighthouse Immersive's bankruptcy petition was scheduled a day after its initial filing. The federal Delaware court approved an order seeking provisional relief from the company's debtors, according to court records.

Wait! It gets even more confusing. Earlier this summer, another immersive art attraction called Immersive Disney Animation, which offered moving images from Walt Disney Studios' most iconic animated films, suddenly announced that it would close the exhibit two months ahead of the scheduled end date. The company's URL listed on the recent bankruptcy petition shows Lighthouse Immersive houses the Disney exhibition under its immersive attraction umbrella, but it's not 100% clear if the two are connected. If so, it might explain why the Disney exhibit had to pack up and head out of town earlier than expected.

This is so confusing. Can someone set up some kind of immersive attraction that explains all the connections and differences between all these different immersive art companies? And if you're going to do that, just limit it to one single attraction.