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.

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

The Whitney Biennial ’17

This year’s Biennial marks the seventy-eight installment of the country’s longest-running survey of American art.

The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973. The Whitney show is generally regarded as one of the leading shows in the art world, often setting or leading trends in contemporary art. It is known to have brought artists Georgia O’Keeffee, Jackson Pollock and Jeff Koons to prominence.

With 63 individuals and collectives featured, we were thrilled to see that 1/3 of the selected works (23) were media art works (e.g. videos, films, websites, games etc.)  Some of our favorites:

Jon Kessler (performative sculpture w/ LCD screen & iPhone)
Tommy Hartung (video)
Jordan Wolfson (VR)
Post Commodity (4 channel video)
Maya Stovall (video)
Anicka Yi (video)
Oto Gillen (video)

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See what some had to say about the show:

NYT: A User’s Guide to the Whitney Biennial
The New Yorker: The Whitney Biennial’s Political Mood
Forbes: 10 Artworks You Must See At the Whitney Biennial
Vulture: The New Whitney Biennial is the Most Political in Decades

 

Studio Visit: Refik Anadol

We were thrilled to be invited to the Los Angeles studio of cutting edge media and data artist Refik Anadol. Located in the Silver Lake area on the east side of LA,  the studio is accessed from a small side door.  Step inside and you’re immediately enveloped by a sleek white space with 20ft ceilings, desks dotted with enormous computer screens, a brand new projector and great Mid-century modern furniture.

Of course it’s hard to miss the perfect, small scale model of Frank Gehry’s Disney Music Hall, one LA’s (if not the world’s) most iconic buildings.  Refik used the model to create one of his very first projects in LA.

If you’ve been to San Francisco recently, you would not have been able to miss the skyline altering Salesforce Tower whose lobby is defined by a 3-story tall, 2,500-square-foot digital canvas featuring a custom data art creation by Anadol.

Together with his collaborator Peggy Weil, Anadol created a large scale data piece for LA’s first public art biennial, Current: LA Water.

To learn more about Refik’s unique artwork check out this feature story, KCET: Big (Beautiful) Data: The Media Architecture of Refik Anadol.