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60 international artworks presented in spectacular industrial architecture – from the pioneers to the contemporary avant-garde

vom 19. April

bis 09. Juli

2023

Leipzig

Pittlerwerke

vom 19. April

bis 09. Juli

2023

Leipzig

Pittlerwerke

SARAH KENDERDINE & JEFFREY SHAW
LEONARDO DA VINCI’S VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS AR (LDV.VOTR.AR), 2019,720 X 650 X 300 CM (VARIABLE), COURTESY AND © SARAH KENDERDINE & JEFFREY SHAW  
LU YANG
DOKU - DIGITAL ALAYA, 2021 COURTESY OF THE ARTIST & JANE LOMBARD GALLERY© LU YANG PHOTO: ARTURO SANCHEZ
KURT HENTSCHLÄGER 
ZEE (DETAIL), 2008, AUDIO-VISUAL ENVIRONMENT: ARTIFICIAL FOG, STROBOSCOPES, PULSE LIGHTS, SURROUND SOUND COURTESY AND © KURT HENTSCHLÄGER 2008–2023

Digital art since 1859? What does digital art have to do with the analogue 19th century? And how has digitization influenced today's artists? 

Digitalization has always embraced art; and today, artists worldwide are creating new digital spaces and narratives. DIMENSIONS shows how art has been shaped by the dialogue between new technologies and artistic forms of expression throughout history.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND ART COLLECTIVES (i. a.)

Refik ANADOL (TURKEY), LaTurbo AVEDON, Golnaz BEHROUZNIA & Dominique PEYSSON (IRAN / FRANCE), Danielle BRATHWAITE-SHIRLEY (UK), Jean Michel BRUYÈRE (FRANCE) with Matthew MCGINITY, Delphine VARAS & Thierry ARREDONDO (AUSTRALIA / FRANCE), Emmanuel CARLIER (FRANCE), CHOE U-Ram (SOUTH KOREA), Henri-Georges CLOUZOT (FRANCE) with Martina MRONGOVIUS (AUSTRALIA), Matt DESLAURIERS (CANADA), DUMB TYPE (JAPAN), Ivana FRANKE (CROATIA / GERMANY), Joan GINER & Christoph RAULT (FRANCE), GRANULAR-SYNTHESIS (AUSTRIA), Claudia HART (USA), Kurt HENTSCHLÄGER (AUSTRIA / USA), HOSOO + Shoya DOZONO & Ken FURUDATE (JAPAN), HU Jieming (CHINA), Ryoji IKEDA (JAPAN), Sarah KENDERDINE & Jeffrey SHAW (NEW ZEALAND / AUSTRALIA), Ryoichi KUROKAWA (JAPAN), LFKs (FRANCE), Ulf LANGHEINRICH (GERMANY / AUSTRIA), Alberto MANGUEL / Robert LEPAGE EX MACHINA (ARGENTINA / CANADA), LU Yang (CHINA), Julien MAIRE (FRANCE), MIAO Ying (CHINA), Kat MUSTATEA (USA), Nam June PAIK (SOUTH KOREA / USA), Christian PARTOS (SWEDEN), Projet EVA (CANADA), Casey E.B. REAS (USA), Mika TAJIMA (USA), Shiro TAKATANI (JAPAN), René VIÉNET(FRANCE), Susanne WAGNER (GERMANY), François WILLÈME (FRANCE), WU Ziyang (CHINA)

CURATORIAL TEAM

Richard CASTELLI (Chief curator, France) Dr. Dan XU (Co-curator, Germany/China) Dr. Clara BLUME (Co-curator, Austria/USA) 

"The main motivation for this exhibition is not only to show the latest trends in electronic art, but also to cast a look at their roots and development," notes RICHARD CASTELLI, who as leading curator designed the exhibition concept. 

10,000 m2

Area

60

Works of art

1859 - Now

Period

Around 60 artworks from the 19th century to the present will be shown in a space covering 10,000 square meters, creating a singular exhibition experience that explains how art and technological developments are interrelated. Among the works on show at the Pittlerwerke, Leipzig, are 4 new productions, 10 European premieres and 17 German premieres. 

Golnaz BEHROUZNIA & Dominique PEYSSON
Phylogenèse Inverse, 2022, 12 objects under Plexiglas // Scenographic design: Rémi Boulnois , sound design: Florent Colautti

"It is interesting to observe how the electronic arts have attained a certain maturity together with technology's development; one could even speak of a fresh ‘classicism’ with its own rules, derived from the essence and the specifics of electronic arts. This has so far not been explicitly addressed. The exhibition presents electronic and digital art in a wider than usual context. For example, the chapter ‘Immersion’ is not limited to virtual reality, but also embraces physical-immersive environments, be it through 3D projections or direct stimulation of the viewer's brain. New creations and NFTs are exhibited alongside already classic electronic artworks, starting with the first intuition of 3D scan and printing concepts by French photographer and sculptor François Willème in 1859," CASTELLI points out. 

The exhibition is divided into chapters – media and visual, immersive art, robotic art, algorithmic-generative art, and virtual and augmented reality – intertwining past and present in a spectacular way. 

"New technologies are omnipresent and are increasingly becoming a projection surface for expectations and fears – from AI to blockchain. In the exhibition DIMENSIONS we explore the question of what we as a society can learn from art in order to master the digital transformation. As more opportunities open up through technology, the more crucial the human skills of creativity and contextual competence become," explains co-curator DR. DAN XU. 

The venue, an impressive industrialization-era machine factory, creates a fitting symbolic home for the exhibition: the machinery that once revolutionized society has been replaced with today's digital art revolution. Moreover, RICHARD CASTELLI is especially pleased to host the exhibition in Leipzig, "the birthplace of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who developed elements of binary logic, which formed the foundation of computer science, and who was receptive to the beauty and aesthetics of the binary (digital) world, thus anticipating the core of this exhibition." 

Viewers will engage directly with expansive artworks in the monumental industrial halls, challenging their expectations for a digital art exhibition. For example, IVANA FRANKE has created a spatial installation specifically for the space which will challenge the thresholds of the viewer's perception. Her multi-disciplinary work draws from neuroscience research and combines technology and architecture. 

IVANA FRANKE
CENTER, 2004 INSTALLATIONSANSICHT: LAUBA, ZAGRAEB 320 X 320 X 320 CM COURTESY LAUBA © IVANA FRANKE/VG BILD- KUNST, BONN 2023 FOTO: DAMIR ŽIŽIĆ

Historically, the exhibition begins with the French photographer and sculptor FRANÇOIS WILLÈME who succeeded in 1859 in capturing motifs from all perspectives through the simultaneous use of 24 cameras. By superimposing these simultaneously achieved photographic images, his photo sculptures prepared the way for today's 3D scan. Through a QR code visitors receive an augmented reality 3D model of the photo sculpture shown in the exhibition – a self-portrait of Willème, which they can take back home with them on their mobile phones. 

FRANÇOIS WILLÈME
SELF-PORTRAIT, AROUND 1860- 1865 PHOTOSCULPTURE, GYPSUM APPROX. 36X14.5X14.5CM © ALBERTINA, VIENNA, PERMANENT LOAN FROM THE HIGHER FEDERAL GRAPHIC TEACHING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE PHOTO: BRUNO KLOMFAR, VIENNA

Other forms of engaging in digital art are presented as immersive projections
in the exhibition: the two monumental stereoscopic 3D audiovisual artworks ‘MOVEMENT-L’ and ‘WAVEFORM-L’ by ULF LANGHEINRICH were created especially for this show. They visualize the tension between time, space, body and technology. The fog and stroboscope installation by KURT HENTSCHLÄGER is an ambient-like soundscape with kaleidoscopic impressions through light stimuli. 

Robotic art represents the physically tangible aspect of technology-based art. The moveable, organic-mechanical light sculptures by CHOE U-RAM display a fictional ecosystem populated by cybernetic life. For the 3D Water Matrix SHIRO TAKATANI and CHRISTIAN PARTOS have created water sculptures and water animations in which the gravity of water drops is slowed down, suspended or even reversed. 

SHIRO TAKATANI
ST\LL FOR THE 3D WATER MATRIX, 2014 © SHIRO TAKATANI PHOTO: PATRIK ALAC 

In the installations created by LU YANG and LATURBO AVEDON avatars play a central role. As a digital version of themselves, they develop multiple virtual identities, emphasizing the potential of non-physical and fluid identities. In digital sculptures, photographs and videos they reference elements from contemporary net culture and critically explore the medium Internet and its technological and economic developments. 

"The exhibited artworks illustrate how digital technologies shape and warp our perception of reality. Within the framework of the accompanying symposium, we will initiate a conversation with international experts from the fields of art, business and politics as well as prominent voices from civil society, in order to critically examine the opportunities and challenges of future technologies", says co-curator DR. CLARA BLUME, offering a preview of the conference program.”

We look forward to your visit!

From April 19th to July 9th

Pittlerwerke

Pittlerstraße 26
04159 Leipzig

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Ute Weingarten
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