You wait ages for a decent VR art exhibition then three come along all at once!
Tomorrow night in East London during Art Night 2017 three very different exhibitions will showcase the possibilities that VR and creativity can achieve when it is one of the mediums used by the artist.
Khora Contemporary have commissioned Paul McCarthy and Christian Lemmerz to create VR installations at Second Home. 1 July 2017, 6pm-12am 68-80 Hanbury St, London E1 5JL.
Khora Contemporary, a Virtual Reality (VR) production company created specifically for artists, presents its UK premier during Art Night 2017.
Major commissions by German artist, Christian Lemmerz, and from LA-based Paul McCarthy will be shown at Second Home. Both artists can be seen to have pushed their ideas, and ultimately their practice, through their ground-breaking approach to the use of this fast-evolving medium.
Christian Lemmerz’s La Apparizione, produced earlier this year, aims to disrupt stereotypes of religious imagery, engaging the viewer in a discomforting, close-up experience with a burning corpse of Jesus Christ, ‘raining’ embers. Jesus and other religious personages have figured in the artist’s work before, and ‘Bodybuilder’ Jesus first appeared in Lemmerz’s oeuvre in 2013 in sculpture form. Here, he comes alive in death, his rippling muscles.
Paul McCarthy, CSSC VR experiment “what is your name?”, 2017, Virtual reality, © Paul McCarthy and Khora Contemporary Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth, Xavier Hufkens and Khora Contemporary
Paul McCarthy, C.S.S.C. Coach Stage Stage Coach VR experiment Mary and Eve, 2017. © Paul McCarthy and Khora Contemporary. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth, Xavier Hufkens and Khora Contemporary
Christian Lemmerz, la Apparizione, 2017. Courtesy of the artist and Khora Contemporary
writhing in agony, dripping golden blood into the physical space of the viewer. The aim of this VR work is to enhance the relationship the viewer forms with the imagery; its beauty, excess, death and pain.
Paul McCarthy’s work ‘C.S.S.C. Coach Stage Stage Coach VR experiment Mary and Eve’ revisits characters previously present in the series ‘Coach Stage Stage Coach’, or ‘CSSC’ for short. McCarthy has often tested the emotional stamina of the public. This time experience transcends borders, through the interplay of the female characters Mary and Eve, the artwork interacts directly with the viewer’s personal space, left with no choice, but to take a protagonist position in the unfolding act.
Khora Contemporary commissions works directly from artists, connecting them to specialist developers at Khora VR in Denmark. The artworks are presented using the best VR technology to date, a fully immersive system allowing room-scale movement. Khora Contemporary aims to trigger a new wave of artistic practice, and experiential artworks, with the power to affect the senses and the subconscious.
The Garden of Virtual Utopias presented by Estela Oliva and set in the Thomas More Square and features:
A Virtual Reality Napping Station ASMR NPC 2.0 By LaTurbo Avedon
With AMSR audio by Lulu Indigo turboavedon.com/
Step inside a site-specific, immersive sensory space to receive a short VR meditation session. Be transported into a therapeutic digital environment using Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), binaural audio and virtual reality simulations inside a green space.
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a psychosomatic experience where certain sounds in combination with light trigger tingling sensations, out of body experiences, and phantom limb responses in the body. Known as the “whisper fetish,” ASMR has become an incredibly popular subculture online through YouTube and gaming communities that also integrates elements of avatar role-play, interactive theater, and new age therapy techniques.
This project was premiered at the 2014 VIA Festival as a collaboration between LaTurbo Avedon, Lauren Goshinski and YouTube personality Brittany ASMR. Supported by Bubble Pgh, Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center, and Iontank.
Plus from 21h to 00:30h. Live performances
ArtistMatteo Zamagni (øøøø) collaborates with music producer Ana Quiroga aka NWRMTNC to create an immersive sound and visual experience, which transports the audience into an unknown terrain, blurring the boundaries of performance and gaming.
soundcloud.com/NWRMNTC
www.alt-o.com/
Miri Kat
AV Artist Miri Kat focuses on the creation of unique sounds and immersive multimedia. Her process involves livecoding music & live patching audio responsive visuals simultaneously. She also works at Novation music during the day.
mirikat.github.io/
Artists participating include:
Aitana Basquiat | Andreas Nicolas Fischer | FIELD | Jonathan Monaghan | LaTurbo Avedon | Marija B Jones / MBJ Wetware | Nicole Ruggiero.
Lawrence Lek, Play Station, 2017, video still from VR world. Courtesy the Artist copy
Lawrence Lek brings his distinctive and critical eye to the blurring line between labour and play. His piece, Playstation imagines a post-work society through the use of VR, and is taking place in The Whitechapel Building. (Opposite Whitechapel Gallery)
Art Night 2017 July 1st from 6PM More info: www.secondhome.io
