It’s always refreshing to walk into an exhibit and to be greeted by video art. It’s even better when you get to the end and realize that that half of the show is comprised of multi-screen moving image works. Such was the case at the 14th Factory LA, a show we were lucky enough to catch right before it closed its doors after after 4 months and over 75,000 visitors.
‘The Inevitable’ by Simon Birch and Eric Hu with music by Gary Gunn. Read more about this incredible work inspired by a devastating medical diagnosis on Niio’s Instagram page.
The 14th Factory LA was a monumental, multiple-media, socially engaged art and documentary experience conceived by the Hong Kong-based British artist Simon Birch. Taking over three acres of an empty industrial warehouse and lot on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles, the location was transformed into a factory where Birch and his 20 creative collaborators worked and manufactured their art, creating an ever-changing immersive environment of 14 interlinked spaces comprised of video, installation, sculpture, paintings and performance.
Keep an eye on Simon Birch, he has some great projects on the horizon. You won’t want to miss them.
Simon Birch, ‘Tannhauser’, 2016. Realized by Scott Sporleder, Jennifer Russell, with sound design by Gary Gunn. 4-channel video featuring a Hong Kong cityscape. Still by Matthew Sebastian Wood.‘The Inhumans’ is a short film directed by Wing Shya in collaboration with Simon Birch.The ‘Barmecide Feast’ by Simon Birch and KPlusK Assoc. was a replica of The Otherworldly Bedroom from Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.Simon Birch pictured with Michael Govan, the Director of LACMA. According to Birch, ‘The Crusher’ was in part a tribute to the legendary American wrestler Reginald Lisowski, The Crusher who inspired a 1960s pop song of the same name. Photo by VM Fernandez.Niio’s Margo Spiritus with the 14th Factory LA’s founder, Simon Birch in front of one of his paintings.Panel: The Art Experience in the Age of Social Media with 14th Factory’s Simon Birch, Niio’s Margo Spiritus, Venus Over Manhattan’s Aaron Moulton, Marissa Gluck and moderator Gloria Yu of 14th Factory LA.
Did you know that NIIO offers a comprehensive solution for powering video and media art events, fairs and festivals?
NIIO At Moving Image Art Fair
Moving Image founders, Ed Winkleman and Murat Orozobekov, selected Niio to power the New York edition of their fair which featured digital artwork from 30 global galleries and non-profit entities including 4K videos, VR and AR.
NIIO provided a central platform for the directors to receive and curate the multi-format work together with bio and installation directions, re-rendered the artwork and displayed the works looped and uninterrupted.
“…blowing the collective minds of New Yorkers with an impressive gallery of single-channel videos, single channel projections, video sculptures, immersive media, and other larger video installations.”– VR Scout
To learn more about how you can use Niio to power your events, please contact us at [email protected].
Featured image (TOP):
The Flower Matrix by Claudia Hart (TRANSFER Gallery); selected by 21c Museum Hotel for The Moving Image Acquisition Award.
Screen-based art can have a dramatic effect on any environment. As the medium grows in popularity, we’re often asked:
Where to discover and purchase media art?
How to manage, distribute and display media art?
The best screens for displaying media art in any home, office or public space?
The truth is, before Niio, these weren’t simple questions to answer.
This November, Niio, NYC’s bitforms gallery and Philips hosted a discussion about curating, collecting and distributing media art for the screen at San Francisco’s Minnesota Street Project.
If you’re interested in learning how you too can discover and display new media art in your home or office, please request an invitation at niio.com.
We are big fans of Brooklyn based TRANSFER. Gallery founder/director Kelani Nichole, started the exhibition space nearly four years ago in order to support and and cultivate artists with computer-based practices through solo exhibitions, events and international art fairs.
This summer, Kelani and TRANSFER have migrated west, installing an outpost inside San Francisco’s brand new, highly anticipated, Minnesota Street Project.
The TRANSFER Download
Installed as a series of hyperlinked solo exhibitions, ‘TRANSFER Download’ invites artists to present custom three-channel solo presentations of moving image. Each work is accessible via a playlist, creating a layered salon-style exhibition format first tested during Art Basel Miami in 2014. Selecting an artwork from the control screen changes over the entire installation space to feature a single work – formats include time-based narrative, generative 3D video, and looped moving images.
TRANSFER + Niio
We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Kelani and TRANSFER during their debut at Minnesota Street. Niio, via its cloud platform + video player (4K/60fps) + remote control app, will power a dedicated 4K 65″ single-channel screen featuring a collection of artworks from the gallery’s inventory which will give collectors an opportunity to take the Niio technology for a test drive while discovering new works of art.
Earlier this year, Niio Co-Founder Oren Moshe had an opportunity to visit and participate in UNPAINTED lab 3.0 in Munich, Germany, a unique art fair featuring 40 international digital artist organized by artistic director Annette Doms in collaboration with New York curator Nate Hitchcock, Co-Founder of East Hampton Shed and former Co-Curator of Rhizome (NY).
Oren had the opportunity to join colleagues Chris Fitzpatrick (Director Kunstverein Munich), Nate Hitchcock (Co-Curator, UNPAINTED, New York), Ioannis Christoforakos (Collector, Athens) & VT ArtSalon (Taiwan) on the stage for a panel discussion about “The Impact of Digital Media on Our Real World.”
Fair participants included international curators and thought leaders, art collectors, gallerists, and artists, as well as an interdisciplinary team, who understand the challenges of these new art forms. It’s fair to say that all were “united by a love of art, innovation and the changing times”.