Agree with Christiane. I have been looking into Teamlab recently as I think
it's easy to dismiss their work as decorative and populist. But Teamlab are
not the only studios working across art and design in this way. There are
numerous studios that tread this line like onformative and FIELD, not
particular to Asia. I'm more interested in how they support their own
artistic practice through their commercial work. Teamlab's studio is
organized horizontally and they work collaboratively in groups to explore
ideas in a realm of the 'unspeakable' in our relationship to our
surroundings, nature, city. Interestingly Teamlab never thought of
themselves as artists and never circulated in the gallery world until 2011
when Takashi Murakami (who coined the concept of "superflat") invited them
to do a solo show in his gallery in Taipei. They also met an art advisor
Ikkan Sanada a Japanese gallerist who knows people at PACE and helped
position their work in the art world. For me it was the attempt of the art
world to capitalize on tech innovation by promoting 'new forms of art'.
What they do is not new but in the narrow realms of the art market it is.
I'm not sure they really need the art market validation since they have
created their own economy to support their work. I think it's impressive to
be able to reach such a wide audience, young people etc. And at scale with
high production which is unprecedented and unavailable to independent
artists. Only a large studio could achieve such scale. They want to make a
kind of work that is universal and not specific to a culture or geographic
location and can be enjoyed by anyone living in the contemporary age. I
think hearing about how they are organized and how they approach their work
there is an undeniable artistic process even if a large part of it is
making beautiful things, but if they can engage a wide range of people with
art who normally wouldn't then it is a feat in itself.
--
*Ashley Lee Wong*
*PhD Researcher |* School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
*Artistic Director *| MetaObjects 元物 | www.metaobjects.org
On Tue, 25 Jun 2019, 02:20 Johannes Birringer (Staff), <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> thanks Christiane, for pointing this out!
>
> regards
> Johannes
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org <
> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Christiane Paul,
> Curatorial <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: 24 June 2019 17:10:05
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] From new Barracuda Re: curating VR Art
>
> I don’t know how closely you all have worked with teamLab — their work
> spans a spectrum, from the straightforward commercial to the reconfiguring
> of spatiality to some political pieces. (Japan obviously makes much less of
> a distinction between art and design, which can be problematic in a Western
> context.) teamLab’s work is also deeply embedded in aesthetics of Japanese
> art and culture, which may require some "translation" — e.g. their work on
> what they call "ultra subjective" space is a continuation of the depiction
> of people and scenery as all relative to each other in traditional Japanese
> screens or scroll paintings and tries to play with agency through multiple
> viewpoints within one virtual space. This is just one small example, I just
> think it's problematic to dismiss all their work as merely decorative,
> they're also working within a very defined conceptual framework.
> Christiane
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org <
> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Kelani Nichole <
> [log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2019 11:21:12 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: From new Barracuda Re: curating VR Art
>
> THANK YOU Simon. 👏👏👏 Couldn't agree more.
>
>
> Founder, TRANSFER <http://transfer.gallery>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 9:47 AM Simon Biggs <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > I know Teamlab’s work well. I find it decorative and trivial. Cloudgate
> > are not much better. There is no intent in these works to take apart and
> > remake the world in a manner that seeks to transform our understanding of
> > it. For me that is what art does - transform our understanding of things.
> > Anything less is decoration.
> >
> > best
> >
> > Simon
> >
> >
> > Simon Biggs
> > [log in to unmask]
> > http://www.littlepig.org.uk
> > http://amazon.com/author/simonbiggs
> > https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK
> [
> https://yt3.ggpht.com/a/AGF-l78p5y4qgNZ1wjlTenqTzNJPijr8a73zlrFvpw=s900-mo-c-c0xffffffff-rj-k-no
> ]<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
>
> Simon Biggs - YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
> www.youtube.com
> art works by Simon Biggs
>
>
>
> > http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs
> Simon Biggs Home Page, University of South Australia<
> http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs>
> www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au
> Professional home page for Professor Simon Biggs, Professor of Art, School
> of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > On 24 Jun 2019, at 21:32, Johannes Birringer (Staff) <
> > [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > These comments on shared reality and interaction with environments or
> > others, Simon, are indeed constructive and helpful; your experience is
> > somewhat similar perhaps to mine as you also have worked a lot with
> > performers and in performance contexts. VR - as a visual and immersive
> > medium ØC as you also suggest, however seems to now flow more often into
> a
> > visual arts/museum./gallery and spectacle context to be consumed? I
> wonder
> > now how curators or museums try to "sell" us this kind of work that we
> > sometimes see (why should we see it, indeed?).
> > >
> > > As an example, I was discussing a very intriguing and affectively
> > designed dance work ("Formosa", by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre) with a
> Chinese
> > Phd researcher, we'd both seen the work and admired the complex
> > digital-projected calligraphic moving scenography, interacting so to
> speak
> > with the dancers, as the words and poems that were floating down slowly
> > turned more elemental, became clouds, black and grey shadows, altering
> > their course and textures, raining down.
> > >
> > > A few weeks ago, at the Barbican Center show on artificial
> intelligence,
> > "AI: More than Human,"
> > >
> > >
> https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2019/event/ai-more-than-humanentre
> > >
> > > .. I saw an immersive installation which had the opposite effect on me;
> > it felt superficially pretty and silly, with nordic ambient trance sound.
> > TeamLabӮs "What a Loving and Beautiful World (2011)" - I attach a
> photo
> > for you [whoops, it's rejected] ØC to my mind had all the wrong
> attitudes.
> > I sat there for 30 minutes and felt bored, or rather, I felt it was
> offered
> > a childish and silly commercial entertaining 3D installation; folks
> walked
> > in, took a quick look and a selfie, and left again. In a review, i read
> > that it was "an endless immersive digital installation in which tumbling
> > calligraphic characters transform into animated images when touched by a
> > visitorӮs shadow. Flocks of birds, mountains, thunderclouds, cherry
> > blossom, sparks of fire, trees and raindrops leap out from the shadow of
> > your fingers, skitter across the wall and interact: itӮs enchanting and
> > mesmerising."
> > >
> > > Not sure what shadowy fingers the critic applied, but it didn't work
> > with mine. Have others here seen/experienced the work?
> > >
> > > best
> > > Johannes Birringer
> > > DAP-Lab
> > > London & Houston
> > > http://www.brunel.ac.uk/dap
> > >
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org<http://www.crumbweb.org>
> <
> > [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Simon Biggs <
> > [log in to unmask]>
> > > Sent: 22 June 2019 00:02:54
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] curating VR Art
> > >
> > > VR, or any visual medium (eg: hyperrealistic painting, iMax cinema),
> has
> > never interested me in terms of generating a strong (uncanny) sense of
> > reality through immersion and/or illusion. My interest has always been in
> > interaction and how it can render our relations, our agency and
> > inter-agency, uncanny. This seems far more transformative of our
> subjective
> > sense of self than something that is primarily ocular (as Johannes
> > suggests). ThatӮs why IӮve always worked with interactive environments
> > (usually employing immersive projection) as everyone can interact in the
> > environment at the same time, whether with other people or with the
> > synthetic elements in the environment. It is a shared experience focused
> on
> > agency rather than spectacle. That can allow a particular kind of
> > generative ontology that challenges your sense of self.
> > >
> > > AR is interesting for the same reason, especially where it is a shared
> > experience (as it can be with networked Hololens units). Everyone is in
> the
> > same (hybrid) environment and can perceive and interact with the same
> > phenomenon, whether tangible or not.
> > >
> > > Of course, you still have to work out how to make that interesting (why
> > should people interact - whatӮs the point?). The technology is not
> > interesting of itself.
> > >
> > > best
> > >
> > > Simon
> > >
> > >
> > > Simon Biggs
> > > [log in to unmask]
> > > http://www.littlepig.org.uk
> > > http://amazon.com/author/simonbiggs
> > > https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK
> [
> https://yt3.ggpht.com/a/AGF-l78p5y4qgNZ1wjlTenqTzNJPijr8a73zlrFvpw=s900-mo-c-c0xffffffff-rj-k-no
> ]<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
>
> Simon Biggs - YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
> www.youtube.com
> art works by Simon Biggs
>
>
>
> > > http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs
> Simon Biggs Home Page, University of South Australia<
> http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs>
> www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au
> Professional home page for Professor Simon Biggs, Professor of Art, School
> of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia
>
>
>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >> On 22 Jun 2019, at 05:17, orpheus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> dear all
> > >> finding this discussion interesting, allow me to respond suggesting a
> > few things, and actually I've not seen much debate on these matters: it
> > might be good to hear more views.
> > >>
> > >> Adinda's experience of the exhibition made me a little sad, and also I
> > felt that this kind of waiting in queues, signing up, and waiting for a
> > turn and having to choose in fact the queue line (how do you know what to
> > choose when there are multiple isolating VR works?), would have
> frustrated
> > & alienated me.
> > >>
> > >> This made we wonder why initially, when I heard about VR works
> > returning (yes, Osmose was amongst the earlier experimental piece, I
> never
> > saw it but Char told me vivid stories), I laughed them off, considered
> them
> > unwieldy, insulating, isolating, ocularcentric, and antisocial. For my
> > dance installations, naturally, unusable.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> I do like Simon's response, and I had exactly the same change of mind
> > (partial); when a collaborator offered to work with the DAP-Lab ensemble
> on
> > "kimosphere no. 4", in 2017, we deliberately created a poetic sonic and
> > tactile content/architecture (also including biophysical sensorial
> > interfaces) in a larger immersive environment (the dancers acted as
> ghosts
> > and guides, it was the audience that became protagonists), and then
> > included 4 small 3D films in the google cardboard boxes, and one VR
> (VIVE)
> > "station" on one side of the immersive environment, where those visitors
> > who wanted to also explore our virtual forest could climb inside. It was
> > not interactive (multiuser method, or with avatars) as we only had one
> > headset; but since then I have done workshops with performance artists
> and
> > designers and included the VR again in an installation that was even more
> > tactile and sensorial (we tried out the notion of "augmented virtuality"
> by
> > adding organic materials and physical objects).
> > >>
> > >> I have now also written about this, if anyone is interested, in the
> > current Theatre and Performance Design issue 5, 1-2 (2019), the Bauhaus
> > anniversary issue; and elsewhere. In my experience, the audience wandered
> > around and there were many interactions in the space, the VR-place only
> > one, and as audiences would stay for an hour or hour and a half, many of
> > them wore the goggles or observed, with interest, how the immersant
> inside
> > VE would act, move, behave. Some folks really seemed to like just
> imagining
> > the imaginary.
> > >>
> > >> I have also been inside a gallery at Moody Center for the Arts
> > (Houston) where Momoko Seto's PLANET ”Ž was exhibited: 4 swiveling
> chairs,
> > 4 Rifts, and off you go inside the 7 minute world (
> > https://vimeo.com/220965048).
> > >> Easy set up, I think people came and went. Problem might be the
> > re-charging of the batteries of the wireless sets. There was no guard, so
> > audience had to figure it all out.
> > >>
> > >> In our kimosphere performance, we did have a "conductor", our VR
> > designer Doros Polydorou had to hold the cables of the Vive set to the
> > computer and make sure the immersant would not get entangled....
> > >>
> > >> The entanglement side is sweet of course. And I gather there are some
> > strange things one can design to make your heart stop and trick your
> brain.
> > At the "Digital Materialism" workshop (Tanzhaus NRW, Dعsseldorf) last
> > month I got seasick and scared, doing a highwire tightrope act I never
> > thought would fool me, but it did. We were 5 groups of 6 people each,
> > taking turns. The designers of "The Plank" were from HSD (University of
> > Dعsseldorf). It was a workshop context, so no wider audience. I'm not
> > sure it would be reproducible as a streaming work, as in the Tanzhaus the
> > designers had set up the actual plank/highwire, with objects to retrieve
> > from other rooftop side, and there were windmachines to change the
> > temperature when the rain started..... There was also a dancer who
> > generated purple streaks inside my VE. A bit weird, a google
> tiltbrush-like
> > drawings happening around me as I'm falling off the wire.
> > >>
> > >> with regards
> > >> Johannes Birringer
> > >> DAP-Lab, London
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ++
> > >>
> > >> [Simon schreibt]
> > >>
> > >> Our research centre (Creative Computing Studio) recently hosted the
> > production of a VR dance piece. It was commissioned by the Adelaide
> College
> > of the Arts dance program and choreographed by a visiting choreographer
> > with experience with VR (Sarah Neville) to be danced by the final year
> > students on the dance program. The work they made was a 10 minute
> > interactive VR piece (in Unity) for Rift. The work was presented in the
> > foyer of the College theatre before the program of commissioned stage
> based
> > works started and then during the intermission and at the end of the
> > program. They had a number of ӨboothsӮ - areas around 4 x 3 metres in
> > size, each defined by a Persian carpet on the floor and some theatre
> style
> > retractable belts with metal stanchions, waist high around that. Each
> booth
> > had an Oculus Rift Go setup and an assistant to help people put the
> headset
> > on, take the hand controls and get started (and finish the experience as
> > well). By this means a number of people could experience the work
> > simultaneously and there was little queuing. Over a series of evenings a
> > lot of people experienced the work. Seemed to work well.
> > >>
> > >> Currently we are developing a dance work for Hololens. This will allow
> > dancers and audience members, all wearing Hololens AR head units, to
> > interact with one another and a number of computational agents visible in
> > the AR environment. In theory it will work with any number of headsets,
> > although in practice we only have four units so that will be our limit in
> > the studio. The point here though is that the experience is not for a
> > single person at one time but is multiuser and interactive between
> everyone
> > and everything (people and generated agents). It is fundamentally a
> shared
> > experience. I should also mention that the piece will be networked and
> > people at remote locations, wearing Hololens and logged into the same
> > server, will be able to join in the group improvisation. We have already
> > undertaken experiments between Adelaide and Melbourne, with no apparent
> > latency.
> > >>
> > >> In my experience VR/AR/ER/MR work best with shared activities. ItӮs a
> > matter of conceiving and developing works that function in that manner.
> The
> > idea of showing up at a conference or event and queuing to have a solo
> > experience, whilst everyone around you is looking at you doing it, seems
> > weird - unless thatӮs the outcome you are seeking. You can choose to
> turn
> > the user into part of the show, although possibly at their expense as
> most
> > people do not enjoy being on ӨshowӮ like that - indeed, many people
> > refuse to use VR when there are other people around watching. I imagine
> > there is an innate human aversion to being the centre of attention and
> not
> > being able to see those watching you.
> > >>
> > >> best
> > >>
> > >> Simon
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Simon Biggs
> > >> [log in to unmask]
> > >> http://www.littlepig.org.uk
> > >> http://amazon.com/author/simonbiggs
> > >> https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK
> [
> https://yt3.ggpht.com/a/AGF-l78p5y4qgNZ1wjlTenqTzNJPijr8a73zlrFvpw=s900-mo-c-c0xffffffff-rj-k-no
> ]<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
>
> Simon Biggs - YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonBiggsUK>
> www.youtube.com
> art works by Simon Biggs
>
>
>
> > >> http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs
> Simon Biggs Home Page, University of South Australia<
> http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs>
> www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au
> Professional home page for Professor Simon Biggs, Professor of Art, School
> of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia
>
>
>
> > >>
> > >> [Hide Quoted Text]
> > >> On 18 Jun 2019, at 00:26, adinda van 't klooster <
> [log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> dear all,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Just back from VRHAM, an interesting VR art festival in Hamburg and as
> > far as I'm aware the main one that focuses on art only. It was great to
> see
> > a variety of VR artworks but it also brought up some interesting
> questions
> > that might be of interest to people on this list to discuss. The
> curatorial
> > problem with VR art is having to overcome the fact that it is for one
> > person at a time, and thus likely involves some sort of queuing process.
> > The only reason I didn't see Osmose back in 1999 in Austria was that back
> > then the queuing system was a basic stand in line until it's your turn
> > (several hours in that case), so it's a good things that queuing systems
> > have progressed slightly. However, I don't think we are quite there yet
> in
> > terms of optimal experience.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> What they did at VHRAM was create a guarded exhibition inside the main
> > exhibition. The guarded bit was where the main twelve VR art experiences
> > were exhibited. You could get in there via twelve IPAD's fixed to a wall
> > inside the exhibition space. Each IPAD was connected to one of the VR
> > artworks. There you could sign your name up to be next to experience that
> > particular VR artwork. They had a system of allowing between 3 and 8
> names
> > on this list at a time, with new slots only becoming available once a
> > person left that particular exhibit. Once you were next in the queue you
> > received a text on your mobile phone telling you it was almost your turn,
> > and again one when it was your turn to have the experience.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> This still caused large queues on busy days, as people would stand in
> > front of one of the twelve IPAD's waiting until a slot became available
> to
> > sign their name up for. Waiting half an hour to an hour just to sign your
> > name up was not uncommon. Inside the guarded exhibition space actual
> > gallery attendants were checking whether people were turning up for their
> > slots and calling out names in case people didn't come forward.
> > >>
> > >> Issues that occurred were:
> > >>
> > >> * the system didn't realise when one person had signed up for two
> > different VR artworks and their slot became available at the same time,
> > this would cause one of the two VR exhibits to be lying empty for some
> time
> > whilst there was a large queue of people outside waiting.
> > >> * people who didn't know about the sign in wall would innocently
> > spend perhaps an hour looking around the rest of the exhibition which
> > consisted of a few further VR experiences that were mostly unmanned and
> not
> > all working as they should be. Once they figured out they had to sign up
> > for the main artworks, they would then have to spend a long time queuing
> to
> > wait to sign up their name and then wait further time to have the actual
> VR
> > experience. As tickets were sold for afternoon and evening slots, this
> > meant many people might have only experienced one or two of the twelve VR
> > artworks after leaving the exhibition. They would then have to come back
> > another day to experience more artworks.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> I was wondering afterwards whether it wouldn't be better to have a
> > system where you could sign in for particular times slots and do this
> > signing up online, well before visiting the exhibition, so that you would
> > know which VR artworks you were going to see and you could avoid the
> > waiting. I realise this might still bring up some issues when people
> don't
> > turn up or the technology fails and the timeslots go out of sync with
> > actual exhibition times but perhaps those could still be addressed by the
> > people on the floor and waiting would still be less then with the current
> > system. One might still have to limit the amount of artworks you could
> see
> > in one day to allow enough people access to the works but it would be
> > fairer on visitors who know beforehand how many artworks they were going
> to
> > experience for their money.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Or would it be better to simply curate this kind of exhibition through
> > VR STEAM, for people to download and experience at home on their own
> > headsets? As VR content creator that was certainly my personal
> conclusion,
> > as the wait was mostly just frustrating, but I realise that this would
> > exclude a lot of people and so the questions of how to curate this type
> of
> > exhibition in a gallery space are still very valid.
> > >>
> > >> Hopefully of interest to anyone out there. I was certainly impressed
> by
> > them quality of some of the artworks once I finally got access to them!
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> best wishes,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Adinda van 't Klooster - Artist & Researcher (currently: Creative
> > Economy Fellow at Durham University)
> > >>
> > >> Mobile: + 44-(0)7412-717737
> > >>
> > >> Websites:
> > >> www.adindavantklooster.com<http://www.adindavantklooster.com>
> home page Adinda van 't Klooster<http://www.adindavantklooster.com/>
> www.adindavantklooster.com
> Adinda van 't Klooster artworks
>
>
>
> > >> www.affectformations.net<http://www.affectformations.net>
> > >>
> > >>
> ########################################################################
> > >>
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> > link:
> > >>
> >
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> > >
> > >
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