Niio, Author at Niio Blog

What We’re Reading Now: Art (x) Design (x) Technology

At Niio, we are passionate about the intersection of Art, Design & Technology. From code-based and algorithmic artworks, to AR & VR installations, to blockchain for authentication, crypto art as well as the .ART domain, talk of digital art was everywhere in ’17. Check out some of the great stories that we’re reading now and look out for lots more throughout the year.

ARCHITECTUAL DIGEST //
Marilyn Minter’s Largest Public Artwork Is All About Me

“Well, all artists have a narcissism problem,” says Marilyn Minter gleefully as she walks the 280-foot length of her newest work. A collaboration with the Art Production Fund, the project is a video, produced in partnership with Westfield World Trade Center and displayed, unignorably (as any narcissist would appreciate), every eight minutes on the 19 screens of varying sizes that dot the inside of Santiago Calatrava’s Oculus and its surrounding buildings.” Read more.

Photo via Art Production Fund

THE ART NEWSPAPER //
The Future May Be Virtual, But Who Is Running the Show?

Virtual reality (VR) art is no longer the preserve of geeky coders. Artists such as Paul McCarthy, Marina Abramovic and Jeff Koons are beginning to create work using the technology, and start-up technology firms are springing up in the race to distribute and sell them. But as collectors begin to circle and prices rise, several legal and ethical questions are being raised, including who owns the art, how do you protect your work, and who has the right to place art in virtual public places? Read more.

Mat Collishaw: Thresholds at Somerset House Photo: Graham Carlow

NEW YORK TIMES //
Will Cryptocurrencies Be the Art Market’s Next Big Thing?

“On Dec. 16, the nascent market for what might be called cryptoart appeared to reach a new level when the hitherto-unknown Distributed Gallery announced the auction of “Ready Made Token,” a unique unit of a cryptocurrency that the gallery said was created by Richard Prince using technology from Ethereum, the network responsible for Ether. The online gallery describes itself as the first to specialize in blockchain-based artwork and exhibition.” Read more.

Richard Prince’s “Ripple” paintings share a name with a high-rising cryptocurrency. Credit David Regen/Gladstone Gallery

ARTSY //
When Steve Jobs Gave Andy Warhol a Computer Lesson

It was October 9th, 1984, and Steve Jobs was going to a nine-year-old’s birthday party. He’d been invited just a few hours earlier by journalist David Scheff, who was wrapping up a profile of the Apple Computer wunderkind for Playboy. Jobs was far from the highest-profile guest, however. Walter Cronkite, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Louise Nevelson, John Cage, and singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson were also in attendance. And Yoko Ono, of course—it was her son’s birthday, after all. Read more.

A 1984 Macintosh. Photo via Dave Winer on Flickr.

THE GLOBE & MAIL //
Is It Big Brother? Is It Art? What If It’s Both?

The watchers watch us, we watch ourselves, and maybe someone is preparing to feed it all back to us as art.

The creator of Colorimeter is Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, a Mexican-born artist who lives in Montreal.

ARTNEWS //
Rhizome Gets $1M. From Mellon Foundation For Webrecorder, Its Web Preservation Tool

The New York–based digital arts organization Rhizome has been awarded a two-year $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue the development of its web preservation tool Webrecorder. The grant, the largest in the institution’s history, follows a previous two-year grant of $600,000 from the Mellon Foundation that it received in December 2015 to put the tool’s development into full gear. Read more.

What We’re Reading Now: Art (x) Design (x) Technology

At Niio, we are passionate about the intersection of Art, Design & Technology. From code-based and algorithmic artwork, to AR & VR installations, blockchain, and the new .ART domain, digital art was everywhere in ’17. Check out some of the great stories that we’re reading now and look out for lots more in ’18.

ARTNEWS //
The Year in Screens, in Museums, Galleries, and So On

“It’s estimated that the average American spends about ten hours looking at screens—on phones, laptops, desktops, tablets, televisions, and so on—every day. Screens are more than a little ubiquitous at this point, and I realized, perhaps not so surprisingly, that many of my favorite exhibitions from this year involved the use of screens.” Read more.

Installation view of “Haroon Mirza: ‘ããã – Fear of the Unknown remix,” 2017, at Lisson Gallery, New York. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND LISSON GALLERY

THE VERGE //
Miami Art Basel: Where Art Reckons With Technology

“In the mass of confusion that is Miami Art Basel, there’s more discussion about the issues of our time, and much of that is framed around technology and the way it is making us think, react, and exist. In the midst of traditional paintings and sculpture on view, Miami Art Basel is demonstrative of how the art world is catching up to internet culture.” Read more.

“Members Only” by Brian Bress, a high-definition single-channel video (color), high-definition monitor and player, wall mount, framed. Courtesy of the artist and Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles

BOSTON GLOBE //
Boston Arts Groups Team up for Sprawling Look at Art, Technology

“This February, 12 Boston-area arts organizations will band together to present a sprawling series of exhibitions exploring the symbiotic relationship between art and technology — a rare cross-institutional collaboration that includes painting, film, and Web-based art, among others.” Read more.

Jon Rafman’s “View of Harbor, 2017” will be part of “Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today” at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

OCEAN DRIVE //
Julia Stoscheck Talks Her Inspiring Collection of Time-Based Media Art

“Art that exists only when installed? Whose every iteration can be considered a different representation of the work? Employing essential equipment and technology that can fail or become obsolete? None of it fazes Julia Stoschek, a leading collector of time-based media art, who gives these pieces the space they need to unfold their magic.” Read more.

Imi Knoebel, Projektion X, 1972, and Klaus vom Bruch, Das Alliiertenband (Allies Tape), 1982, from the exhibition “Generation Loss” at the Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf.

The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture This Year

“What, exactly, is visual culture? In a world where we communicate increasingly with images, it’s an ever-expanding field, comprising not just art, photography, and design, but also memes, advertising, histories of representation, and the very technologies through which all this flows.” Read more.

Magic Leap One, Lightwear. Courtesy of Magic Leap.

THE ART NEWSPAPER //
UK’s First Permanent Virtual Reality Space in an Arts Institution to Open in London

“This year saw Virtual Reality (VR) reach new heights and capabilities in the art world and now London is getting its first free and permanent public VR space.” Read more.

Rachel Rossin’s I Came and Went as a Ghost Hand (Cycle 2, 2015) Courtesy the artist, Zabludowicz Collection and ZieherSmith, New York

VENTURE BEAT //
AR and VR Could be Educational — and Profitable — Tools For Museums

“When introduced to new technology, many people react with a mixture of fear and confusion, rather than excitement for the possibilities that the future may hold. Museums are in an even more difficult position: balancing the archiving and preservation of our history and remaining relevant to our society in the present and future, while being cognizant of major financial considerations.” Read more.

The Kerry James Marshall exhibit at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

UPROXX REPORTS //
This Artist Explores the Intersection of Art and Tech by Using Bitcoin

“I make art that that tries to sort of shine a spotlight on the connection between humans and technology,” Bauch says. Read more.

Uproxx

THE ART NEWSPAPER //

High-tech Art in Houston: Data-driven Installations Look at Issues Like Hurricane Harvey and Mass Incarceration:

“While musical acts like Nine Inch Nails, Solange and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke might have taken most of the spotlight at this year’s Day for Night, a music and art festival in Houston, Texas, the visual art on offer was just as attention-grabbing.” Read more.

The Mill, Uproar (2017) at Day for Night Victoria Stapley-Brown

HYPER ALLERGIC //
Women Artists Working with Technology

“This rigorous exhibition uses art to critique the stereotype that men and technology go hand in hand.” Read more.

Installation view of “Making/Breaking the Binary” (2017), Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia

THE VERGE //
Artist Daniel Canogar Visualizes Real-time Environmental Shifts With LED Sculptures

It sometimes seems like technology is at odds with the art world — a tension between brain and heart. But plenty of artists, from Da Vinci to Cory Arcangel, have proved that’s not true, and continue to prove it as technology evolves. In Technographica, we explore how contemporary artists are using technology in unusual and unexpected ways. Read more.

Basin by Daniel Canogar; Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales for the Verge. Daniel is represented by bitforms.

RHIZOME //
What is the Future of Digital Art?

“A new video from the Thoma Art Foundation brings together answers from ten experts.” View video.

Niio & Genesis Technologies >> VIP Lounge (France & Spain)

Art, Design & Technology in France & Spain

Together with our partner Genesis Technologies, one of Europe’s premiere technology integrators for luxury homes and yachts, we participated in their VIP Lounge on the Cote d’Azur and again in Marbella, Spain.

In France, participants included art collectors and prestige design professionals (architects + interior designers) while in Spain we spent an afternoon with hardware partners and technology integrators.

We are on a mission to expose people to original, high-quality, immersive digital art experiences. With a collection of thousands of works from top artists and galleries, state-of-the-art technology, a global hardware infrastructure and white glove installation and support, Niio makes it easy to incorporate captivating digital art into any environment.

Interested in premium digital art for your home or next project? Please contact us.

Niio @ the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image (Frankfurt)

Several members of Niio including co-founder, Oren Moshe, had the opportunity to spend time in Frankfurt, Germany at the B3 Biennale of the Moving Image.

Since 2013, B3 has shaped the interdisciplinary and transnational debate on trends and developments relating to the moving image in the fields of art, cinema, TV, games, design, communication and immersion. The aim of the Biennial is to create a broad interdisciplinary alliance for the moving image, and offer the international culture and creative industry a platform for innovation and exchange.

Oren Moshe participated in several official events and discussions including a panel entitled: “Accessibility and monetization of moving image art now and in the future. New platforms and new solutions.” Moderated by Julia Sökeland, co-founder blinkvideo, Oren was also joined by Clare Langan, a film and video artist from Ireland, contemporary visual artist, Erika Harrsch, collector Tony Podesta and collector Baron Futa.

Check out some of the photos from our time in Germany at B3.

Niio Co-Founder, Oren Moshe @B3 discussing a work by Quayola. #digitalart

Panel @B3: “Accessibility and monetization of moving image art now and in the future. New platforms and new solutions.”

A large audience for Oren’s panel @ B3. #digitalart

Niio’s Xuf Mills experiencing ‘Levitation’ by David Guez and Bastien Didier.

Niio @ BDNY: Boutique Design New York

This November we were invited by our partner Marriott, one of the world’s leading hotel companies, to demonstrate a selection of interactive artworks at BDNY: Boutique Design New York, the leading trade fair and conference for the hospitality design industry.

BDNY brings interior designers, architects, hotel owners and developers together, introducing them to the most innovative and high-caliber design elements for hospitality interiors around the world. Over the course of two days, we were able to demonstrate how the Niio platform enables art advisors, curators, architects and designers to implement digital art installations within their projects.

L. to R.: Rob Anders, Margo Spiritus & Yossi Amon; Featured Art: ‘Selfish Gene Mirror’ 2015 by Daniel Rozin; courtesy bitforms gallery; ‘Bodypaint III’ by Banz & Bowinkel.

Want to discuss a project for one of your spaces? Please contact us or sign up for our Designer affiliate program.

Niio at NADA Art Fair with AES+F

Niio Powers Events

This winter ’17, NYC’s TRANSFER Gallery selected Niio to power its presentation of AES+F’s newest work ‘Inverso Mundus’ (The World Is Upside Down). AES+F achieved worldwide recognition and acclaim in the Russian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale.

Together with our hardware partner, Barco Residential, who generously provided one of its top of the line professional 4k projectors, the work was displayed 16ft x 10ft using Niio’s ArtPlayer and Remote Control App. The booth drew huge crowds and garnered widespread praise:

“At any given moment during the VIP preview, it was literally overflowing with people craning their necks to catch a glimpse of AES+Fs 38-minute video, projected wall to wall.” – Artspace

“Stunning video installation.” – Artsy

“Crowds were squeezing into the booth to watch.” – ArtNews

“Every time I walked by the booth, the viewing area was filled with fairgoers, frozen by the epic tableaux.” – Hyperallergic

“A true highlight of the fair.” – ArtFCity