Acute Art and the Royal College of Art (RCA) launch 5-day Summer School : New perspectives will be shared by world-renowned artists KAWS, MetaKovan, Olafur Eliasson, Julie Curtiss, Gilbert and George, and Alicja Kwade, in addition to celebrated technologist Rodrigo Marques, following his recent collaborations with Jeff Koons, Marina Abramovic, Lee Bul, Koo Jeong A, Precious Okoyomon and Nina Chanel, amongst others.
Participants will visit the Serpentine Galleries for a talk by artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist and will also have the opportunity to speak with leading representatives from Dazed & Confused, FRIEZE, and the world’s largest immersive space Outernet.
Acute Art and the Royal College of Art (RCA) have joined forces to explore the impact of emergent technologies on art and design in a five-day summer short course that will introduce participants to the fascinating world of VR, AR and AI through teaching from some of the world’s most renowned artists in this space.
If John Cage was right, art is an early warning system, the function of which is to prepare us for the world of tomorrow. The emergence of a visual medium always gives rise to new possibilities for art, and each epoch has its key artists in whose works novel encounters between creativity and technology crystallize. Like no other course offered by an art school, this 5-day collaboration between Acute Art and the RCA will offer tools to navigate the art world of tomorrow.
— Daniel Birnbaum, Artistic Director of Acute Art
Through unrivalled access to globally recognised artists, technologists and entrepreneurs, the course – taking place across the RCA Campus and 180 Strand – offers an opportunity to observe first-hand the impact and potential impact of these new immersive technologies on contemporary art and its institutions, from industry leaders at the forefront of cutting edge thinking and creativity.
This access offers a unique chance to learn how these individuals and organisations are engaging with, exhibiting, collecting, negotiating, and understanding the impact of these new technologies on the art world ecosystem. Bringing to life this outstanding programme of presentations, talks and visits, the course will also include a demonstration workshop and hands-on elements including practical introductions to the technologies involved in the creation of virtual works and the curation of a brand-new AR exhibition.
Through the course, a host of questions will be raised and explored, cultivating new perspectives, new ways of thinking, and new opportunities:
How will today’s visual media — AR, VR, AI and Mixed Reality — expand the ways we make,
present and experience art?
How might the virtual turn change the nature of art itself; just as photographic techniques and mass distribution altered our understanding of what an artwork can be across the 19th and 20th centuries?
What is the curatorial significance of these new visual technologies and implications for cultural institutions and their professional staff in commissioning, curation, and conservation?
How will these new artforms be collected? And by whom?
I am thrilled to collaborate with Daniel Birnbaum again on a shared project. And professionally, the fit with Acute Art with the Royal College of Art is ideal–this is a place where experiments in art and technology happen. The RCA is about innovation while not leaving earlier media behind and I believe this exciting short course can be the beginning of many creative and lively learning experiences.
— John Slyce, writer and critic, senior tutor, the Royal College of Art
Present Futures: Virtual and Augmented Reality and AI in Art 28th August to 1st September: BOOK
