Transforming existence in Bergson: art ventures into a fresh dimension
The Digital Arts Center, housed in the former Kunstkraftwerk gallery in Munich, is currently hosting an interactive art exhibition titled "Digital Arts Center, featuring Emixar, Chapter #1: Reshaping Reality". This immersive experience runs until the fall and offers visitors a 40-minute journey into new digital realities.
The exhibition features works by 20 international and regional artists, who use digital technology to create plastic pieces and digitally expand them into the virtual space. One such work is Torsten Muehlbach's sculpture, a wooden stump with a chopped axe, symbolising the fact that a tree is felled every second in the world for IKEA. The sculpture is covered with mirror pieces, creating a disco-like atmosphere as it dots the dark walls with light points.
Another noteworthy piece is Peter Demetz's creation, a realistic spatial illusion with a sacredly illuminated frame arrangement and a carved, modern couple in a large peep box. Visitors can explore the third level of the gallery with a VR headset, which resembles a "Star Wars" trooper helmet, while the fourth level can be explored using a QR code without the headset.
Ugo Dossi's work, created for Documenta 1987, is a delicate starry sky on a black background with white splashes of colour and white points. Visitors can tumble into a 360-degree space, giving the illusion of floating in space, in Dossi's work, thanks to the VR headset.
David Pflugis brings a realistically plastic three-dimensionality to his work in the exhibition, while Stefan Goepel, a co-curator of the exhibit, digitally expands many plastic works in collaboration with the artists, including a huge wall hole that seems to have been punched by a real giant wrecking ball.
In a separate room, blue smoke begins to flicker and wave like a genie from "1001 Nights" when visitors sit on certain chairs, and only if the VR headset is worn. Visitors can also throw chocolate sprinkles at a white canvas, creating a large, flowing chocolate stain.
Robert Balke has installed a mechanical marionette contraption on level 4 that draws geometric figures according to a random principle. At the entrances, a small, ridged folded piece of paper is sometimes given, containing chocolate sprinkles of various flavours.
The exhibition's website can be found at www.bergson.com. Visitors, aged 6-17, can enjoy a reduced admission fee of 13 Euro, while the standard admission fees are 26 Euro for adults and 19 Euro for students.
The Digital Arts Center at Bergson Kunstkraftwerk is renowned for pushing the boundaries of perception, blending art, technology, and viewer interaction to create compelling new realities that challenge and expand traditional notions of art and experience.
- The Digital Arts Center showcases a variety of pieces that blend technology and art, such as Ugo Dossi's starry sky, which uses VR headsets to immerse visitors in a 360-degree space, creating the illusion of floating in space.
- Another interactive work is Robert Balke's mechanical marionette contraption on level 4, which draws geometric figures according to a random principle, demonstrating the fusion of art and technology to engage and challenge viewers.
