PIXELBLOOM

PIXELBLOOM takes visitors behind the scenes of the city’s iconic cherry blossom trees and into the metaverse—no virtual reality goggles needed. As D.C. enjoys peak bloom and the ongoing National Cherry Blossom Festival amid a sea of pink, art tech venue ARTECHOUSE brings this exclusive-to-D.C. exhibit back for a fifth year. Combining art and technology into an immersive experience, PIXELBLOOM gives viewers a chance to engage with cherry blossoms in a nontraditional way. Throughout ARTECHOUSE’s main immersion gallery, visitors will be surrounded by virtual cherry blossoms, which appear in a 22-minute-long audiovisual installation. Additional gallery rooms feature a three-sided cherry blossom sculpture and an interactive installation of floating cherry trees that may give visitors the impression that they themselves are also floating. A springtime soundscape hums through the galleries, further immersing its audience. You may be wondering, why visit this virtual experience while the real cherry blossoms are blooming at the Tidal Basin? One reason—your eyes can only zoom in so far. The magnitude of PIXELBLOOM allows viewers to explore the colors and textures of blossom petals in greater detail than one is usually able to downtown, surrounded by tourists. One installation scene alone displays 94,000 petals. Once you snap a few pics in front of this year’s blooms IRL, consider heading down to ARTECHOUSE. You may just find that a virtual lens lets you see the cherry blossoms like you never have before. PIXELBLOOM is on display through June 5 at ARTECHOUSE, 1238 Maryland Ave. SW. artechouse.com. $17–$25.