NEW REALITIES
EXHBITION
New Realities was a touring exhibition presenting interactive artworks, digital art installations, music & art apps and physical displays alongside a parallel programme of events.
The first New Realities was held at Mobile World Centre in Plaza Catalunya Barcelona as part of the Music+Arts showcase commissioned by Mobile World Capital. The exhibition explored the current art and cultural landscape through the work of 30 artists, designers and musicians from around the globe, reflecting on concepts brought by the integration of digital and the internet into our society. The artists involved use digital technologies to express their interests, perspectives and visions of a new cultural reality that is breaking boundaries.
ARTISTS PARTICIPATING
Alba G. Corral / Siroi Mura Antivj, Simon Geilfus / Paleodictyon App Chris Milk / Rome: 3 Dreams of Black (19 Nov – 13 Dec) David O’Reilly / Mountain Evan Boehm / The Carp and the Seagull Fabrica / Sadly by Your Side App FIELD / Hyperfeel, 10,000 Digital Paintings Herman Kolgen / Seismik Index Jono Brandel + Lullatone / Patatap Karolina Sobecka / All the Universe is Full of the Lives of Perfect Creatures Keiichi Matsuda + James Alliban / CELL LIA / Arcs 21, Transition 89 2.0 Lorenzo Bravi / Hit The Beat Lucent Kids / David Marinos: Selection of Works / Dom Sebastian: Selection of Works Mark Dorf / Path_ Memo Akten / Simple Harmonic Motion Onformative / Who Are You Quayola & Sinigaglia / Selection of Works (1-13 Dec) Realitat / Microsonic Landscapes Snibbe Studio + Philip Glass / Rework_ Stan Douglas / Circa 1948 Sougwen Chung / Mytheme Etude Op.4 Odd Division / Conductar App Universal Everything + Radiohead / Polyfauna Varvara & Mar / The Highest Human Tower Vincent Morriset + Aaron Koblin / Just A Reflektor
Dates: October 2014 to February 2015.
Music+Arts was an international showcase of new trends in music, art and digital culture powered by Mobile World Capital Barcelona and Movistar in collaboration with Alpha-ville (Estela Oliva and Carmen Salas).
In 2016, the project New Realities took a new form for its new home at Espacio Fundacion Telefonica in Lima. The exhibition was coined as an ongoing exploration of how the internet and the latest technological changes have shifted our perception of the world, opening up new opportunities for artistic and creative expression. Curated by Estela Oliva and Carmen Salas (Alpha-ville), the show presented the works of 12 contemporary artists and designers across three thematic areas.
The first thematic area The Expanded Human explored a fundamental shift taking place in human identity. Although we all have become skilled at constructing “disembodied” virtual personas, alter egos or avatars, it is fundamental to reflect on artistic work critically in order to deepen our understanding of the implications these new practices have upon society. Artists LaTurbo Avedon and Karolina Sobecka pose important questions about the construction-deconstruction of our identity and the paradigm between physical and virtual.
Another important aspect of the new reality we live in is the effect of the rise of computers. The machine that was once created by a human is now enabled to act as an independent agent, posing existential questions. The thematic area And Human Created Machine. And Machine Created… features semi-autonomous entities such as gEOF, a robot by Jan de Coster that will take the human role of exhibition photographer.
The boundaries between presence, space and form are also undergoing significant alterations. In Brave New Worlds, the exhibition examines how the digital representation of natural spaces doesn’t necessarily correspond with a reflexion of the physical space. In the virtual realm, artists like Lawrence Lek create simulated virtual spaces, fascinating new worlds where our understanding of presence and location is distorted. However, those who grow up with this new reality might not be confused about it, as it might be precisely their own reality.
Media theorist Marshall McLuhan argued that artists are always ahead of technology, offering clues to understanding the impact these technologies will have later on. Through this journey of art and digital creativity, we aim to provide new perspectives on the reality we live and anticipate the future we are all heading to: a future in which we can decide the role we want to play in order to leave a harmonious place for the next generations.
ARTISTS
Karolina Sobecka, USA www.gravitytrap.com It’s you, 2012 All the Universe is Full of the Lives of Perfect Creatures, 2012
LaTurbo Avedon, Internet http://turboavedon.com http://clubrothko.com Club Rothko Save 01, 2012 (00:02:54) Save 02, 2015 (00:03:21) Save 03, VIP Room, 2016 (00:04:57)
New Sculpt: Esper, 2013, Pop Star, 2013
LIA, Austria www.liaworks.com Arcs 21, 2009
Realität, Mexico www.realitat.com Microsonic Landscapes, 2012
Jan de Coster, Belgium http://www.sulu.be Rise of Robots (2015) gEOF, 2015-16 http://twitter.com/gEOFTheRobot
Lawrence Lek, United Kingdom http://lawrencelek.com http://bonuslevels.net Unreal Estate, 2015
Mark Dorf , USA www.mdorf.com //_PATH: Untitled 26, Untitled 23, 2013 Axiom & Simulation: Plate 8, Plate 19, 2011
Quayola, United Kingdom www.quayola.com Natures 2, Natures 3, 2009 Courtesy of Sedition
Universal Everything, Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Nigel Godrich and Stanley Donwood, United Kingdom www.universaleverything.com PolyFauna (2014)
Ustwo, United Kingdom http://ustwo.com/
Monument Valley, 2014
FIELD, United Kingdom https://www.field.io/ Energy Flow, 2012
Fabrica, Italy www.fabrica.it Sadly by Your Side, 2013
Images: New Realities exhibition Barcelona and Lima.