In recent months, viewing art outdoors became a welcome, and necessary solution to the enforced suspension of in-gallery events. But in December, Acute Art took this one step further, with an exhibition formula that required no gallery, and no physical art. It launched its ‘Unreal City’ outdoor AR exhibition in December, and now, in response to tightened coronavirus restrictions across the UK, has made the show available from inside your home.
The original concept was arranged as a walking tour. Aptly titled, ‘Unreal City,’ it was sited across 24 locations between Waterloo Bridge and Millenium Bridge on London’s Southbank. The exhibition – now available to view in any conceivable location – features work by Olafur Eliasson, Cao Fei, Alicja Kwade, Koo Jeong A, Marco Brambilla, and new pieces by the likes of Tomás Saraceno, KAWS, Bjarne Melgaard and Darren Bader.
Users can now transform their homes, or gardens into one big AR exhibition, available to experience until 9 February 2021. As Daniel Birnbaum, artistic director of Acute Art and curator of ‘Unreal City’ said, ‘You can have Nina Chanel Abney’s Imaginary Friend in your sitting room, Bjarne Melgaard’s Devil Man in your kitchen or TAKE by KAWS floating in your bedroom. The world can come to a halt but art doesn’t stand still.’
Alicja Kwade’s, All at Any Time can hover ominously above your kitchen counter. Elsewhere, in another surreal twist, Olafur Eliasson’s Courageous Flowers sees green foliage sprout from the concrete slabs of the Thames Path, or your living room carpet.
‘In recent years works that involve virtual elements have regularly been included in biennials and museum exhibitions, but usually in ways that obey traditional institutional structures’, Daniel Birnbaum, artistic director at Acute Art and curator of Unreal City explained. ‘Could one instead imagine immersive experiences distributed across geographies in novel ways, connecting locals perceptual nodes in ways that create entirely new exhibition formats? I believe the answer is yes. We will use these technologies to change the structure of the art world and make possible new forms of global exchange for a future in which we will be less keen to jump on a plane.’
The large-scale group exhibition seeks to ‘democratise’ art, and take it to locations that would prove physically impossible in the real world, all through the lens of AR. Viewers need only download the Acute Art app, point their phone in the direction of their chosen backdrop, and watch each artwork curiously appear. The project, a collaboration between Acute Art and Dazed Media, is slated as ‘London’s biggest public festival of AR art’, and now one for the global community to enjoy.
As Jacob De Geer, CEO of Acute Art added at the time of the original launch, ‘In these complicated times our aspiration has gained new relevance and urgency. We are happy that all the artists are joining us in the project. Institutions are closed but art should not be cancelled!’ §
