This month we want to highlight our meaningful partnership with SOUTH SOUTH on its second edition of VEZA. SOUTH SOUTH is an online community, an anthology, an archive and a resource for artists, galleries, curators and collectors, institutions and non-profits invested in the Global South.
VEZA 02 features a digital showcase of seminal video art from the Global South which coincided with the April 2022 edition of SP–Arte in Brazil. An exclusively designed installation powered by Niio was set up at the fair, presenting selected video art works.
SOUTH SOUTH Veza takes its name from the isiZulu word which means “to show, produce, or reveal” and presents its audience with a new way to experience and engage with new media artworks.
VEZA 02 also boasted a robust curated art programme titled Bending the Axis. This year’s programme was curated by Meyken Barreto, Uche James Iroha, and the curatorial duo Carlos Quijon, Jr. & Kathleen Ditzig and was made possible with the generosity of Mr. Jorge M. Perez and the inaugural SOUTH SOUTH x El Espacio 23 Curatorial Residency. It included works by emerging and established artists and a Talks Programme engaging cultural practitioners from across the globe which took place from 31 March – 10 April 2022.
Veza 02 focuses on digital and video art, and the remarkable possibilities of new media, as well as its core activity of facilitating new connections within the cultural ecosystems across the Global South and beyond.
Galleries from 25 cities spread across five continents came together to present a selling exhibition of important video artworks at SP–Arte (Sāo Paulo) and simultaneously online. This marked SOUTH SOUTH ’s transition into a hybrid model through collaboration with regional fairs.
Niio supported and powered both the physical exhibition and the online presentation through our state of the art technology platform which enables new media to be preserved, certified and seamlessly acquired through Niio and the Blockchain, with an accompanying NFT.
Coco Fusco, The Empty Plaza/ La Plaza Vacia, (2012). Installation view SP-Arte.
SOUTH SOUTH offers a repository and a space for new, shared value systems centered on community, collaboration and exchange. It is a central portal to experience the programs and artist profiles of galleries within and dedicated to the Global South.
The SOUTH SOUTH platform was conceived by Liza Essers, owner of Goodman Gallery as a response to the global pandemic and as an extension to an ongoing curatorial initiative established by Goodman Gallery in 2015.
Niio facilitates and enables the acquisition of new media and video art works and ownership through our highly advanced platform offering storage and preservation of digital works, securing NFT & blockchain technology for provenance and attribution, and providing the best in class display technology for showcasing screen based works, in-turn enabling art spaces and arts practitioners to shape their own narratives within the cluttered and developing conversations about the relationship between art, new technology and web3.
With the help of Niio, SOUTH SOUTH also launched the VEZA NEW MEDIA FUND which allows museums focused on the Global South and diaspora to acquire new media works from galleries taking part in VEZA for their collections.
This year’s beneficiary was El Museo del Barrio, New York’s leading Latino cultural institution. Niio together with SOUTH SOUTH has launched a $40,000 fund through which El Museo Del Barrio has acquired two new digital artworks: one that addresses the erosion of civil liberties by the high-profile Cuban-American artist Coco Fusco — The Empty Plaza/ La Plaza Vacia, 2012, represented by Alexander Gray Associates. Centrally located public squares are a key component of social and political life throughout Latin America, Caribbean cities, and the rest of the world. In The Empty Plaza/ La Plaza Vacia, artist Coco Fusco, inspired by the Arab Spring protests of 2011 explores discussions among Cubans about the reason that plazas were left vacant. In this work the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana becomes the protagonist in the artist’s mediation on public space, memory and revolutionary promise.
The second artwork acquired by El Museo Del Barrio through the Veza New Media Fund is Siboney, 2014 by the 32-year-old Dominican-American artist Joiri Minaya represented by Embajada gallery. The work Siboney is at once a mural painting and a performance in which the artist hand-painted the design of a found fabric onto a museum wall. The video work is accompanied by the song Siboney by Connie Francis composed by Ernesto Lecuona in 1929 allegedly while homesick, away from Cuba. Once the artist finished painting the mural she pours water on herself and scrubs the mural with her body while dancing to Siboney in doing so questioning the exoticism in the representation of black and brown women in the Caribbean, and to challenge these constructions and the control of the Other historically in order to reclaim the voice of these women.
Both video artworks were sold together with their accompanying NFT through Niio Art, and have been transferred to the museum via the Niio pro tool platform. We invite you to discover the VEZA exhibition and available artworks through Niio’s digital online catalog. We hereby want to give a special thanks to all participating featured artists and galleries:
Patfudyda / Abre Alas 17 A Gentil Carioca, São Paulo / Rio de Janeiro
Coco Fusco Alexander Gray Associates, New York City / Germantown
Luis Enrique López-Chávez Bode Projects, Berlin
Gigi Scaria Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Jackie Karuti Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi
Joiri Minaya Embajada, San Juan
Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo / Rio de Janeiro
Eder Santos Galeria Luciana Brito, São Paulo
Nicolás Paris Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo
Nalini Malani Galerie Lelong & Co., New York City / Paris
Kiluanji Kia Henda Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg / Cape Town / London
Peter Nelson Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Zheng Chongbin INKstudio, Beijing
Hardeep Pandhal Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai
Wura-Natasha Ogunji kó, Lagos
Minerva Cuevas kurimanzutto, Mexico City / New York City
Yazan Khalili Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai
Letícia Ramos Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo / Brussels / New York City
Tsubasa Kato MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo
Amina Benbouchta OH Gallery, Dakar
Jorge Méndez Blake OMR, Mexico City
Miguel Angel Rios Sicardi Ayers Bacino, Houston
Ayrson Heráclito Southern Stars Projects, London
Charles Lim Yi Yong STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore
Ryoko Aoki Take Ninagawa, Tokyo
Sara Ramo Travesia Cuatro, Madrid / Guadalajara / Mexico City
Digital art is any art created using digital media tools, computer technology, or software. Digital art is flourishing and has many benefits that may enrich the lives of both guests and customers, while showcasing the work of artists in public spaces as well as in private homes. More than just a decorative image, digital art is giving artists a platform to expand their applied imagination, while also providing commercial spaces and collectors’ private homes immediate experimental and reputational value. Now, as we emerge from a global pandemic, and with a rise in popularity of digital art and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), designers and architects have more opportunities today to showcase digital artworks and exhibit artists’ creations.
Let’s dive into what digital art is, the plethora of public and private spaces that benefit from digital art for interior design, and the seamless resources available to display curated digital art installations.
Artwork: Geist_xyz by ZEITGUISED Powered by Niio
What Is Digital Art?
Digital art emcompasses all artistic works or practices that use technology as part of the concept, creation, and presentation of the artwork. As digital technologies pervade all aspects of our culture and society, we see artists exploring innovative and creative practices to find new forms of artistic expression. Despite the fact that computer art originated in the 1960s and video art and moving image formats have been around since the 1970s, the tools to create and display these forms of artistic expression in a seamless manner are drastically improving. As a result, digital art and artworks that are designed to be experienced primarily in a digital format are becoming more accessible. The emergence and popularity of NFTs and other trending digital experiences have shown that any black screen can display valuable digital art and any surface can be transformed into digital canvas.
Where Are the Best Interior Spaces to Integrate Digital Art?
Interior designers have begun adapting the addition of compelling digital art installations in private residences and collectors’ homes, as well as hospitality spaces, such as hotels, corporate offices, and retail spaces. In each of these interior spaces, designers, marketers, and owners have the opportunity to use innovative interior design to enrich their brand and customer experiences with the most up-to-date trends.
Ideas for Digital Art in Hospitality & Hotel Interior Design
Hotels and hospitality spaces have been some of the first to appreciate the significance of art being seen everywhere, acknowledging the power of curated digital art in interior design, especially in a post-pandemic world that is attracted to travel.
Benefits
There are a number of exciting benefits when integrating exceptional digital artworks into hotel interior design. Starting with the main entrance, and extending digital art throughout the entirety of the hotel creates fluidity between spaces, brand continuity and insightful conversations between guests.
Digital art, as opposed to traditional physical art, offers the artist and brand greater scalability for hundreds of locations to be in sync. It provides the ability to change artwork seasonally, or even by time of day, and to select pieces that are unique to each location, representing the cohesive brand.
In addition, as an industry rooted in travel and destination, hotel interior designers can support local culture by showcasing curated artworks created by local digital artists from the hotel’s city or region. Find out more about the future of hotel interior design in the webinar presented by Hospitality Design in partnership with Niio.
Artwork: Flower by Guilhem Moreau Powered by NiioArtwork: Cézanne Unfixed by Joe Hamilton Powered by Niio
Spaces
Regarding hospitality, fine digital art is extended from enhancing hotel lobby interior design to also be displayed in more intimate settings, for example, guest floor hallways and elevators. Digital art will enhance a guests experience culturally, emotionally, and allow them to explore and discover new local artists. Hotel spaces that are augmented by curated digital artworks include but are not limited to:
Lobbies
Bar areas
Conference rooms and meeting spaces
Hallways
Elevators
Stairways
Guest rooms
Many hotels have gone beyond the black screen model, and now are curating commissioned digital artwork into their spaces, creating immersive, and engaging experiences. Examples include transforming a curved stairwell, the backside of the bar area, or even an entire multi-story wall. On these unique displays, artists such as Refik Anadol and Daniel Canogar, both of whom present on Niio, could be commissioned to further customize your space.
Artwork: Virtual Depictions San Francisco by Refik Anadol
Ideas for Retail & Corporate Interior Design
For businesses and brands, creating consumer relationships is all about emotional responses and connections. The emotion evoked by a visual scene can be felt in one-tenth of a second, making it essential for brands to utilize artistic visuals to send the exact message they are looking to deliver.
Artwork: Geist_xyzby Zeitguised Powered by Niio
Benefits
Incorporate artistic digital artworks into retail and corporate spaces, such as offices, storefronts, and luxury dealerships. Digital artwork enables companies to create and foster a unique sense of space that effectively introduces customers and clients to the brand. Fostering relationships with clients is all about creating emotional connections; businesses can elicit the kind of emotional response that the brand is aiming for, by showcasing specific digital art selections. In addition, thought-provoking digital artworks as part of your corporate office interior design can have a very positive impact on employees by creating a consistent sense of purpose and care for the place in which they work.
Spaces
There is an extensive range of business and brand spaces that are enhanced by digital art, including high-end vehicle dealerships, event venue lobbies and hallways, and individual retail shopping spaces as well as larger shopping centers, such as malls and outlets. There are a number of possibilities for corporate office interior design, for spaces such as lobbies, conference rooms, and even non-public company areas, for example, staff bullpens and break rooms.
Ideas for Residential Interior Design
While public spaces and businesses were one of the first to embrace digital art in interior design, private residential spaces are beautifully transformed by it as well.
Artwork: Cézanne Unfixed by Joe Hamilton Powered by Niio
Benefits
Homeowners can incorporate digital art to achieve spatial storytelling that blurs the lines between physical and virtual spaces. This evolutionary artistic style empowers designers and owners to tell new stories seasonally, regionally, and even as the mood changes, all while supporting artists and giving exposure to more artworks. In multi-residence spaces, digital art can also be used to ground common spaces with a sense of culture and community.
Spaces
There are limitless opportunities for digital art installations in high-end private residences, including living and dining spaces, stairwells, hallways, and even outdoor areas. Luxury apartment and condo complexes are also enhancing common spaces, such as lobbies, meeting areas, and elevators with digital art. There has been a particular spike indigital art on yachts and superyachts, as revealed in a recent report on Boat International. Not only does it extend the space beyond simple walls and enclosures, but these spaces are often used for social entertainment, and digital art enhances that experience throughout the entire residence and evokes insightful conversations surrounding the artwork.
Making Digital Art Available Anywhere
One of the major concerns when it comes to the logistics of digital art installation is the complexity of integrating software and hardware for a clean and easy digital experience. Designers, hoteliers, and residential owners can feel it’s just too difficult to manage and that it will interrupt a space too much to install a major piece of hardware and integrate it with digital art software.
With Niio, all these concerns dissipate to allow for a seamless, physical and technical installation.
Software: Streaming through the Niio app provides access to over 15,000+ premium digital artworks from 7,500+ leading artists and galleries all in one user-friendly application. Stream and curate our thousands of works into compelling “art streams” and connect the world with artists who have important things to say.
Hardware: Niio partners with Samsung, a global leader in visual display technology, creating industry-leading TVs and commercial visual displays designed to captivate potential customers and residential visitors. By joining forces with Niio, Samsung’s displays offer more than their original intended purpose – elevating the state-of-the-art visual technology to digital art canvases. This makes hardware and software installation seamless by turning any Samsung visual display into a curated standalone digital art canvas.
Make Digital Art Interior Design a Reality in Your Space
Digital art is a major trend in interior design, and there are extensive opportunities for businesses, managers, architects, designers, and even homeowners to elevate spaces into a digital engaging experience.
Niio makes it possible for any screen to become a digital canvas and tell the story of your brand or space. Whether you’re not exactly sure where to begin with digital art for interior design or you’re ready to get started, book a free consultation with Niio’s expert art curators today.
The definition of the office will never be the same as the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic. This time has made us appreciate the significance of our surroundings and the importance of good interior design in our work environments.
After more than a decade of working in a newsroom, I decided it was time to set up my own business and ‘work from anywhere’ with a client base that spans Europe and America. Mine is just one of millions of similar stories.
Whether the pandemic has resulted in a career change or simply an introduction to flexible working, employers are recognising that their staff do not want to return to office life as they once knew it. A survey conducted by research and advisory company Gartner revealed thatmore than two-thirds (74%) of CFOs plan to permanently shift employees to remote work after the Covid-19 crisis ends. Offices are undergoing major redesigns to adhere to the new hybrid way of working that companies, including tech giants Google, Spotify and Twitter, are adopting.
But do we want to continue spending the majority of our ‘work from anywhere’ time at home? It can be isolating and lacks a sense of community. Hence why design-conscious coworking spaces that blend the different facets of our lifestyles are set to thrive.
I recently moderated a webinar with industry leaders from Niio, NeueHouse, Birch, Yon, and Design Stories where they discussed the new definition and purpose of the office, the impact of design as we go to work from home to work from anywhere, and the role of art in shaping these multipurpose spaces. Watch the full webinar here.
Why It’s Beneficial to Add Digital Art for Workspaces
Josh Wyatt, CEO of NeueHouse which has private work and social spaces in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, says: “People, now more than ever, are acutely aware of the value of time, choice and the various forks in the road of their personal and professional lives. The pandemic has awoken all of us with a sense of the finite. As such, people should expect special moments when working – spaces and communities that empower their creativity and most importantly allow them to flourish.
“At NeueHouse, even pre pandemic, this sense of providing spaces and moments to flourish has always driven us. As we emerge into this new way to work, we have doubled down on ensuring our services, design, programming and community all provide moments where people creatively excel and find happiness. This rebirth of expecting more, opening one’s eyes to surroundings and seeking a supportive community is how the working environment will look in the future.”
He believes every workspace should approach their mission with a dedication to design and the delicate details that impact our ability to concentrate, create and ideate.
“High performance moments, that feeling of being in the flow or flourishing, is often driven by design that both inspires but also provides ease of work.” he adds. “Elevated, calm, warm and inviting moments wrapped within a diverse set of spaces where a worker can plug in and out of communal and private moments should be the north star design brief. At NeueHouse, we call ourselves a ‘cultural speakeasy’ which we feel captures our design and programming ethos where culture and commerce collide.”
Craig Knight, who heads up a research group called Identity Realisation (IDR) as part of the University of Exeter, is a firm believer in art being connected to workplace productivity. He summed up his thoughts for The Guardian: “There is a real tendency to opt for lean workspaces, designed to encourage staff to just get on with their work and avoid distraction. But there isn’t a branch of science in the world which believes this approach boosts productivity or makes for happier workers…If you enrich a space people feel much happier and work better; a very good way of doing this is by using art.”
Design studio Morgan Lovell, whose mission is to “transform offices into captivating workplaces” has released a thought-provoking essay on art and its effect on productivity in offices. “When we discuss the use of art in a client’s office design, we talk about its ability to stimulate creativity or inspire thought processes. We talk about its ability to reduce stress and improve wellbeing through its relaxing, contemplative nature. And of course, art can take so many different forms – from wall graphics and photographs through to sculptures and living walls – you can find a decorative effect to meet whatever mood you are trying to create,” it explains.
How Do You Add Digital Art for Workspaces?
A good starting point for incorporating art into our working day would be via the blank screens that are prominent throughout so many physical spaces. How many times have you walked into office lobby areas, meeting rooms or open plan work zones to see empty, switched-off screens hanging from the walls? u>Niio Art sees these screens as digital canvases with the potential to bring meaningful art into their environments and inspire an audience that spans way beyond the traditional ‘art scene’.
As the leading platform enabling digital art, Niio is utilising a growing network of 5,000 artists from 82 countries to help interior designers transform existing screens in the office, and any space for that matter, from a black void into an endless rotating digital canvas.
Co-founder and CEO Rob Anders is passionate about the role digital art plays in design. He believes it should be easily accessible and affordable: “We need art now more than ever. And by art I’m talking about the opportunity for people to stop and have a moment, to ponder and think, perhaps start a conversation,” he says. “Our platform is replacing the screen void with vitality by giving people access to the largest community of media artists and a seamless way to display premium art to any screen in any location.”
Artwork: Camouflage by Quayola
Utilising a recurring series of digital art can also provide a way of connecting offices that exist in various parts of the world. It reinforces the notion of a common style between those spaces and makes employees feel a sense of familiarity. “We have built an extremely robust platform which enables us to deliver this content to any screen in any place according to different types of business models,” adds Rob. “It can move and adapt to different times of the day as well.”
Create Fluid Workspaces With Art
Creating fluidity between spaces using art and design is a core part of the concept behind Birch, which opened its first hotel and coworking members club around 30-minutes north of London during the pandemic. London based interiors studio Red Deer has styled the estate, which includes a 15th century mansion, a lido and sprawling grounds, to coexist with its flexible nature. There isn’t an obvious transition between the coworking area, the restaurants or the hotel rooms. That is very deliberate.
“I guess it’s like wearing a suit,” Birch co-founder Chris Penn ponders. “It used to be the norm to wear formal attire to work. But the uniform was taking personality and individuality out of people in a work environment and I think offices did the same, right? They created these structured grey, neutralised environments. For the modern day personality, individuality and creativity is what differentiates the best businesses, brands and companies from those that are just existing within that marketplace.
Birch
“You can’t expect those people to be able to perform as individuals in an environment which is teaching them to be robots, confined by their uniform or the uniformity of the place in which they perform their task. People realise that if you dress someone in a suit, they are going to act like they are in a suit. If you allow people to dress how they like, suddenly their personality will come out, they will think differently and they will probably remove barriers to their thought process. It’s the same for the workspace design.”
He is passionate about creating spaces where you can rest, explore, connect, work, taste, move, or dance – all in one place. He says: “Our lives have become blended. If you don’t provide facilities for people to enjoy themselves then you’re creating a barrier to them being able to engage. The kind of people that we are trying to attract love their work. They are not defined by it but they absolutely love it. It’s a big part of their lives. They also love going to festivals, listening to music and learning new things. So why would you prevent them from doing any of those things? We want Birch to be a place where people can escape. But we’re accepting that in order to escape you need to do the things that you want to do. One of which is work.”
These projections reflect not only the growth that the industry has experienced over the past few years but also the dramatic increase in flexible and remote work practices adopted by businesses worldwide.
Experience-led hotel and hospitality collective Yon was born during the pandemic with the realisation by founders Tom Brooks and Ant Steele that working, travelling or generally making the most of your time shouldn’t exist as standalone concepts.
Yon Essaouira
What started as a series of pop-up spaces around the world where guests could work and sleep in beautiful surroundings has turned into a permanent hotel, opening this summer in the coastal city of Essaouira, Morocco.
The concept is a direct response to the needs and desires of the ‘work from anywhere’ generation that is keen to discover new destinations. “So many people no longer need to go into an office every day and companies know their employees are just as productive, or more productive, when working from places they love. But they yearn for social interaction and to be a part of a community,” says Brooks.
Yon
“The freedom to log in from wherever you like suddenly means you don’t need to distinguish between travel and work. You could work from home or our vibrant coastal haven in Morocco. This has opened up the potential for a massive shift in the way we can live and want to live. At Yon, we want to help facilitate this and to introduce our guests to amazing destinations, collaborating with local insiders to deliver a special experience.”
Design Hotel Spaces with Form and Function
The hotel’s spaces are designed for productivity as well as fun. An option for privacy when needed is offered alongside communal areas. There is an events and wellness programme too. Whether you are closing deals poolside or in a dedicated work zone, every corner is being carefully styled to create a warm and welcoming ambience where you would be just as happy tapping away on your laptop or socialising over a long supper.
Murude Katipoglu, founder of design studio Design Stories, has created workspaces around the world; some with their own restaurants, gyms, and coffee bars. Her team approaches the design process just as they would for a family home: “People want the comfort of a home but also the social aspect of coworking spaces. Workspaces can be stressful for many people so a calm, welcoming environment with multiple-purpose areas and well-thought lighting is key”
She emphasises that creating different zones in one space is important to allow people to transition and find what best works for them and thinks food or drink offerings alongside comfortable breakout areas help open up new conversations: “Good design improves the way people feel and live. A well-designed and considered space would make people want to spend more time in that environment.”
Interior designer Rod Moreno Masey has chosen to embrace the coworking culture for the return to office life of his own practice MorenoMasey and is moving into the Hoxton Hotel’s coworking space WorkingFrom in London’s Southwark. He says: “Adopting a more hybrid and creative approach to designing offices and spaces for work is more relevant than ever, as well as creating a sense of identity in an office and making it more personal with some of the comforts we get from home.”
He is a firm advocate that the familiarity we experience while working at home is strongly linked to our productivity. He thinks investing in objects for the office with which people connect physically and more intimately such as handles, floor finishes and chairs are essential to helping maintain this home feel.
Morgan Lovell also believes that art is increasingly being seen as a way of incorporating an organisation’s own branding into their office design: “It can help tell the story of who they are, what they do and what they value.”
NeueHouse Hollywood
Let’s take Deutsche Bank, for example. Art is an integral part of its brand offering. In its own words: “Art spawns new ideas for shaping our future. It questions, inspires people, opens up new perspectives, and thus enables them to embrace unusual and innovative solutions.” Hence why its US and UK offices alone have more than 11,000 artworks on display.
Whether your post pandemic office is a multipurpose space, a coastal escape or living room there is a renewed sense of how our environments make us feel. Considered design, with art in its varying guises at the heart of it, will be the foundation for helping us stay productive and passionate about our vocations. Book a free consultation with Niio’s expert curators today.
About the author: Amira Hashish is the director of Rapport (www.clubrapport.com), a creative, content and events consultancy & storytelling platform for the new dawn of travel, design and lifestyle. You can follow her @thedesigneditor
“The Office: Revisited” – The Webinar In 2021 a webinar discussion was held following the article, with the participation of industry leaders from Niio, NeueHouse, Birch, Yon and Design Stories, moderated by Amira Hashish.
Aliya Khan is a prolific designer, with more than 20 years of experience in the field and an endless passion for design & hospitality. Leading Marriott International’s design strategy as VP Design and Lifestyle Brands. Khan is in charge of the next generation development of both Aloft and Element – in addition to continually refining the position of AC Hotels and Moxy.
Prior to joining Marriott International, Aliya worked in numerous roles with Starwood Hotels & Resorts. She was the driving force behind several award-winning projects, including the opening of the W Montreal, renovations of the W Mexico City and the Le Meridien properties in French Polynesia, in addition to leading the design partnership effort between St. Regis Hotels and Bentley Motors and the renovation of the iconic St. Regis New York.
We sat down with Aliya to speak about her views and insights into design and technology in the hospitality industry.
You have vast experience in designing for the hospitality section. What do you see as the main challenges for the industry in the coming decade?
The challenge will be continuing to prioritize around building novel, experiential escapes– and what that will take from a time and money perspective. How do you continue to engage a very well-exposed cadre of global travelers with differentiated experiences at a time when resources are going to be tight?
The art of picking hero moments and implementing them with responsibility is part art, part science – but mostly a result of experience and quality partnerships.
You are leading design processes for various brands for Marriott International. What is the key element for planning a design concept and deciding on a brand language?
Everything begins with understanding the target audience psychographics and being able to anticipate their needs through the filter of a brand’s core values and passion points.
For example, when we talk about Westin and our target guest, the healthy active. This is as much about designing our hotels to speak to what current trends and expertise exist in the wellness market, but also identifying what the future might look like. Finding novel, ownable ways for Westin to integrate this into our hotels in ways that are instinctively natural for the brand.
This approach drives every component of the guest journey, from the moment they think to travel, to weeks after they check out – and everything that happens in between.
Aloft Buffalo Downtown, by Jeff Goldman Photography. Artwork: Wind of Linz – Troemploeil by Refik Anadol
One of your great projects is Aloft – how would you describe the uniqueness of the Aloft brand?
When it is all said and done Aloft will always have a distinct place in my heart. I was lucky enough to be a part of the tiny group that launched this brand so many years ago. Years later, I am back to continue to evolve the design, keep it fresh and compelling, in what is now a much more saturated market of designed products.
My north star was always about delivering a low-cost build with a high-impact philosophy. Simultaneously – not either or. It was a game-changer in that market segment and continues to hold its own even today.
Now with a volume of over 200 hotels globally, we have been able to lean-in and really amplify our passions around technology, music, and design in a number of ways. Take our partnership with Niio – quality curated electronic art with huge names like Refik Anadol and Jonathan Monaghan accessible to every guest all over the world. Not bad for a select-service product.
Let’s talk about technology – Aloft is built in a very tech-forward environment. How do you leverage technology to complement the design and amplify people’s engagement?
As a designer, my approach to technology is a simple one. Always finding partners and expertise to make our guest experience more seamless in memorable ways.
At its inception – long before wi-fi was really even an accessible thing, let alone Apple TV – we were the first hotel brand to have jack packs – so people could work comfortably in their rooms, show presentations on their televisions, or even play music on a higher quality speaker than a clock radio on your nightstand. Later – Aloft was the first brand to play with keyless check-in.
This approach or desire to facilitate guest experience through an exploration of technology has remained a core value of the brand and remains present even today.
Aloft Buffalo Downtown, by Jeff Goldman Photography. Artwork: Sky Ruby by Sara Ludy
Public spaces and hotels were always a platform to exhibit art. How do you think it affects guests today?
Art in its most basic form has existed since before 70,000 BC. Regardless of where it might be placed. I believe it continues to be an additive layer to any built environment. Art should stimulate, provoke and inspire all the senses; and always to know that every individual, at any age or with any life experience, will process and react in their own way.
How does digital art help this tradition?
The beauty of a digital art program is two-fold. First, it is the ability to cycle through various types of work, and therefore offer greater exposure to multiple voices of creation. The second is the ability to enjoy how the visual can come together with sound and light to create larger experiential moments that envelope in a way that will never be comparable to staring at a static object that is hung on a wall.
After a very challenging year, what do you think is the role of design and art in relation to people’s wellbeing?
Now more than ever, art and design will play such a critical role in how people experience life. The responsibility of reassuring people that they are safe and cared for, the challenge of stimulating thoughts and conversation, and the lure of tempting people to see and experience more. The list is endless.
All I know is that after almost a year of being homebound, I am ready to get out there and see and experience it all again!
“Quantum Memories“ is Refik Anadol’s most technically and conceptually ambitious work to date. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, the work explores the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing to visualise an everchanging large-scale immersive multimedia artwork.
New media artist Refik Anadol has created a body of work that locates creativity at the intersection of humans and machines. His site-specific parametric data sculptures, live audio/visual performances and immersive installations take many forms, while encouraging us to rethink our engagement with the physical world, its temporal and spatial dimensions, and the creative potential of the machine.
In Quantum Memories2020 Anadol is harnessing a dataset drawn from over two hundred million images linked to nature from publicly available internet resources and processed using quantum computing with machine learning algorithms. Anadol’s work uses the data to speculate an alternate dimension of the natural world as a complex cultural entity with memory.
The first true quantum artwork created, Anadol’s arresting visuals and accompanying audio are composed in collaboration with a generative algorithm enabled by AI. In taking the data that flows around us as his primary material and the neural network of a quantum mind as his collaborator, Anadol paints with a thinking brush offering us radical visualisations of our digitised memories of the natural realm. By representing the complexity of our collective memory in the largest digital artwork staged by the NGV, the artist encourages us to imagine the beginning of a quantum computerised mind and its immense potential for the future of art and design.
Refik Anadol Quantum Memories on display in NGV Triennial 2020 from 19 December 2020 – 18 April 2021 at NGV International, Melbourne.
The art world was particularly hard hit since the onset of Covid. Artists, galleries and museums all needed to drastically adjust to a new world. Public spaces were shuttered, thus most artist’s shows were cancelled, leaving them disenfranchised and unmotivated to produce new work. Collectors were too distracted and concerned about their health and family to support the arts. No Basel. No Frieze. No fairs to view art, gather and socialize. Sans art fairs left many small and medium sized galleries with a massive deficit in their income.
In my 20 years as a gallerist I have never seen anything like it. Virtual and digital initiatives became a necessity to stay relevant and survive. The art fairs attempted to create online platforms, but most were novice and ineffectual. They were basically glorified web sites, nothing original or engaging. Since my gallery is very experienced in new media and online realms we were able to adapt and produce a range of online exhibitions that received favorable press, but sales were still a challenge. Virtual platforms such as Mozilla Hubs and New Art City provided us novel ways to present exhibitions and interact with visitors. We had a solo show with Siebren Versteeg that was embedded entirely in an email. For one of our group shows, Tree of Life, we worked with 2 artists to curate and build a unique website which was the only way to view the exhibition.
Claudia Hart, The Ruins, 2020 Three-channel video animation (color, sound), three screens or projectors, media players, speakersץ Screen size variable, Ed 3, 1 AP
Offering video artworks became a desirable option during the pandemic. Using video art distribution platforms such as NIIO I was able to curate shows online and present them to collectors and curators. We shared the actual video artworks in high resolution, maintaining the integrity of the art vs. exhibiting low quality representations of 2D works in a poorly designed web site.
Daniel Canogar, Loom, 2020 Generative animation (color, silent), computer, screen. Dimensions variable, portrait orientation. Edition of 7, 1 AP
Although this past year has seen unprecedented challenges, many artists and galleries have deepened their connection to new media and virtual environments. This new knowledge will permanently be embedded in both artist’s practice and future gallery programming– better preparing us all for the next challenge that arises.
