The development of technology leading to new and exciting ways for visitors to experience art – old and new.
In a world that bombards our senses pretty much every waking minute, submitting to an immersive art experience might seem counter-intuitive. Surely, what we need is calm, not more stimulation? but when the immersive approach is done well it can be an enlightening, thrilling experience.
Technology is enabling artistic expression to go beyond the boundaries of traditional media, creating new ways of viewing and interacting with art, making the viewer a more active participant in the exhibition space.
Media Art, which emerged with technological advances to create another genre, lets artists extend their work away from two dimensions into a three-dimensional world and invite us into it.
In this sense, immersive media art can also be defined as a space-based media art exhibition that provides a viewing environment for viewers to immerse themselves in their works. The immersive exhibition allows the audience to experience synaesthesia through active appreciation in the exhibition space where the work is projected and allows the audience to experience being the main character in the work by being deeply immersed in the work. Perhaps that’s why there are many reviews saying, “I felt thrilled” and “I lost track of time.” In addition, immersive media art is space-based content. In other words, the shape and meaning of the space vary greatly depending on what and how you fill it. There are three main characteristics. First, it provides a physical environment that allows you to focus on viewing in a specific space. Second, it makes it easier for viewers to fall into the work by dynamically implementing images based on technology while using nature or famous paintings that are familiar to us. Third, visual art (picture), intuitively touching auditory art (music), and smell create synergy to experience a more complete world of multimedia art.
This extension of the canvas, so to speak, allows artists to reach viewers in new ways, with the many fruitful collaborations with fashion designers making art wearable as well as accessible. In the settings of a gallery, the possibilities are vivid with exhibitions now acting not just a presentation of artists’ works, but providing the audience with an expansion of emotional experiences that are multisensory, capturing the viewer’s whole attention. With some of the world’s most famous artists pioneering the new technology. Here are three exhibitions you can visit right now to discover the experience for yourself.
1. DAVID HOCKNEY: BIGGER & CLOSE (NOT SMALLER & FURTHER AWAY)
David Hockney, famous for his cool pool paintings was named Britain’s most influential artist of the 20th century in 2011, by which point, in 2009 at the age of 72, he already started digital painting using his iPhone and iPad. Over those 14 years, he has been experimenting with various media which now forms part of this immersive exhibition at LightRoom in Camden, London. Using a large screen and sound system, we can appreciate the work from David Hockney’s point of view.
“He has broken the traditional hierarchy of the media beyond the boundaries of what fine art is and what it can be,”
said Mary Creed, the catalogue creator of Christie’s
The exhibition sees Hockney’s paintings, photographs, opera sets, drawings and pictures with collages projected onto the wall by 27 multi-focus cameras. The effect is of a 4D cinematic immersion; a new type of movie and theatre, according to the artist, which combines a multi-perspective experience, juggling sound, music, and images with space. Instead of appreciating Hockney’s original painting hanging on the wall, you will face the image from the vast display surrounded by the floor and four walls.
The exhibition hall is located underground like a cave and the four walls are 11 meters high and very large and magnificent. Hockney’s significant works, such as ‘A Bigger Splash (1967)’, ‘A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998)’, and ‘Nathan Swimming Los Angeles March 11th 1982 (1982)’, are displayed in an overwhelming size, creating the illusion that the viewer is in the sea or overlooking the grand canyon. The mega-project exhibition, presents the artist’s work over the past 60 years in six chapters for 50 minutes, with some new works in the mix. You can enjoy it with the narration he recorded himself. The American composer Nico Muhly, who has worked in opera and film composition. Created the score to work along with Hockney’s narration and complete the immersive experience.
LIGHTROOM 22 February – 4th June 2023 10:00 am – 09:00 pm
2. YAYOI KUSAMA: INFINITY MIRROR ROOMS
The second collaboration between Louis Vuitton and famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, which was introduced for the first time in 2012, is the hottest talking point among many fashion and art lovers. With a signature style that uses dots to reveal light and shape, Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese installation artist who has been active in New York since 1957. There are many obsessive forms of her work that show a specific pattern because of the abuse she experienced in her childhood. On the surface, Kusama’s family life appeared harmonious, but hid her father’s dissolute life and her mother’s obsessive personality and violence. The effects of this homelife appear in a portrait painted when she was 10 years old; the picture of her mother features the artist’s signature dots all over her body in an attempt to make her disappear. Kusama continued to use painting to overcome fear and confusion with her art a means of survival which included stays in psychiatric hospitals. Indeed, much of the charm of her art is that Kusama sublimated her pain into art, revealing her through her work seen in more than 100 individual exhibitions.
It is the genre and work of art that she is doing now to boldly and abundantly unravel a subject that can be heavy and dark from her own perspective. The exhibition, centres on ‘infinity mirror rooms’, filled with hundreds of neon-coloured balls. It’s an extension of Kusama’s representative work “Filled with the Brilliance of Life (infinity mirror rooms)”, first released in 1965. Now at Tate Modern in London, This version is the largest ever, and focuses on repetition and infinity, aimed at limiting self-consciousness in the viewer to accompany the journey of self-destruction through the work. The mirrored room glitters with sparkling led lights, which have become infinite dots, changing the room’s form and meaning. It’s been such a hit on social media, with German art dealer David Zwirner evaluating her Infinity Room as one of the world’s most installed artworks on Instagram. Tickets were sold out and the exhibition period was extended due to heavy demand. Outside the room, an archive and photos that give a glimpse of her daily life are displayed together.
TATE 18 MAY - 30 SEP 2023 Dates from 3 April 2023 on sale for Members and Supporters on 21 March. General ticket release on 23 March.
3. DALI CYBERNETICS: THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
Salvador Dali is a 20th-century surrealist Spanish painter who explored unconsciousness, and his paintings depict the world of dreams. In his work, all objects are transformed in an illogical way against the backdrop of the barren landscape of the twilight. Dali’s work attracted the attention of critics because of the conflict and incongruity caused by placing what was recognisable in an incomprehensible context. The exhibition, which includes his signature work, ‘The Persistence of Memory (1931)’, known for its melting clocks scattered across desert landscapes, will be the best way to appreciate Dali’s surrealist work. Unlike the previous two exhibitions, it is not an exhibition composed by a real artist, but it provides a 90-minute surreal metaverse show beyond a large screen and room. Using metaverse technology, you can enjoy Salvador Dali’s work 360 degrees with VR; an experience that has gone down well with visitors who appreciate being completely taken away from the world.
The Boiler House From December 2022 – 17 April 2023 Upcoming exhibitions : Monet, Magritte You can also see Monet and Magritte’s works in the same form of the exhibition.
These exhibitions are not just a presentation of artists’ works, but they are significant in that they incorporate technology to provide the audience with an expansion of emotional experiences. This whole experience is part of the artist’s work and part of its extension.
All images, Ⓒ LightRoom, TATE and The Boiler House.