Art history has always been a mere reflection of the evolution of society. Every incursion of a new trend, like digital art, has provoked a revolution, revealing a social tendency to capture its essence and elevate it to an art category. This practice was criticised by some intellectual sectors but, at the end of the day, it was accepted.
Nowadays, computing and the new digital media of production turned into the source of inspiration for the development of the artistic expression. The technological developments delivered an offspring that some people came to name digital art, a technique that is used to create conventional artworks and that has also changed the way of experimenting with art when it’s used to give life to a space, a process known as artistic installations. Thanks to this technique, a completely novel concept has emerged with the transformation of space into an accessible place for the spectators in order to allow them to interact with the artwork.
The immersion digital art offers an experience in which projections combine with the music and the explosion of colour and sound surrounds the visitors and lead them to experiment a different relation with art.
The Japanese team TeamLab, Anthony McCall or Miguel Chevalier are the most prominent artists worldwide of this artistic trend.
TeamLab, Tokio
TeamLab offers a crystal world of 3,000 square meters with a labyrinth-structure of virtual experiences, in collaboration with dmm.com and Fuji Television, where visitors participate in a sequence of immersion artworks.
“Wander through the crystal universe”
‘Wander through the crystal universe’
Spectators can come in and walk through the space that change the tone and intensity of lights
An apparently infinite number of LEDs are installed inside a three-dimensional space generating an impressive site that involve in the activation of all our senses and allows the spectator to “wander through a crystal universe”. Every image is accompanied by a diferent aroma, the astronaut Naoko Yamazi collaborated for this task.
“Floating in the falling flowers”
‘Floating in the falling flowers’
The interaction between the visitor and the installation provokes an always-changing cycle of birth and death
A domed space where flower petals emerge and reproduce to infinity in a changing cycle of birth, flowering and death, gives the visitors a chance to activate their smartphones to catch butterflies and free them inside the installation.
“Drawing on the water surface created by the dance of koi and people-infinity”
‘Drawing on the water surface created by the dance of koi and people — infinity’
The interaction between the installation and the spectator generates a constant change in the artwork
The path of the fish is determined by the presence of the visitors
Visitors that immerse themselves in this space can walk in the water, full of koi fish, can interact with the scene when the fish modify their movement the moment they detect the presence of humans or other fish in the water. When they collide, they become flowers. The live performance of digital art is controlled by a computer programme that maintains the artwork on a constant change and it never repeats an image.
Anthony McCall. “Solid Lights”
The Fundación Gaspar embraces the first exhibition of this British artist in Spain (Barcelona). “Solid Lights” will be accessible until the 30th October.
Anthony McCall in front of one of his installations in the Fundación Gaspar
When he started his career in the 70s, the galleries didn’t consider his work as art, that’s why he was compelled to exhibit his work in dark storehouses. Paradoxically, this places created a perfect atmosphere to enjoy his performances made with lights. This was the environment he recreated to frame “Coming About”, presented for the first time in this exhibition. This time, he uses crosswise projections that trace a diagonal from the ceiling and coincide in the floor. Together, the flat beam and the elliptical cone define a common space.
“Coming About” is a nautical term that refers to the moment of turning the sail from one side of the boat to the other in order to receive or avoid the tailwind.
It’s a light sculpture in which, according to the artist, “the spectators can move around the artwork while observing the spaces and feeling the quality and physic features of light that they can touch and interact”. This encroachment transforms the space in a visual and plastic element that allows the spectators to enjoy all the aesthetical experience by allowing them to cross the frontiers just by simply observing the work.
Miguel Chevalier. “Onda-Pixel”
Chevalier has proved to be one of the most important digital artists in the contemporary scene by focusing his work exclusively on the use of computer technology as a medium of artistic expression.
Miguel Chevalier. “Onda-Pixel”. UniCredit Pavilion. Milán
Miguel Chevalier. “Onda-Pixel”. UniCredit Pavilion. Milán
From the 26th July until the 28th August, the UniCredit Pavilion (Italy) welcomed the exhibition “Onda-Pixel”. A giant light carpet of 20 m x 20 m, projected in the floor inside the UniCredit Pavilion, designed by Michele de Lucchi. This digital installation presents a selection of artworks of the UniCredit collection, consisting on different successive virtual boards related to the digital universe: On/Off, 0 and 1 (symbolic representation of the binary code), the @ symbol, wifi, the USB, pixel frames, …
The projections simulate different images related to the virtual universe
The presence of the visitors modifies the projected image by using a live sensor
For this creation, the artist has reinterpreted some of the artworks from the UniCredit collection, pieces made by artists like Enrico Castellani, Vasarely or Julian Hoeber. From his point of view, they share the same grammar and visual language. It’s composed by 40 pieces joined by a thread that connects and knits a narrative which consists of different styles and techniques, and which transforms the floor into a virtual canvas and the pixel into the equivalent of the pictorial touch.
The carpet seen from the upper floor
As could hardly be otherwise, visitors immerse themselves once again into the image and light. The view of the carpet from the upper floor offers a different interpretation of the work too. A poetic and imaginary travel of game and optical illusions.
Vanguard and artistic innovation that offer a revolutionary experience to the art lovers. Magazine Horse invites you to get into the immersion digital art world through the exhibitions and the most outstanding artists of the moment.
