Does a 3D virtual reality sculpture have just as much artistic value as a handmade clay sculpture? DW spoke to four international virtual reality artists about the art world’s giant leap into the future.
The way things are going, 2017 is shaping up to be the year that art gets virtual, as top galleries around the world allow this very modern medium to infiltrate their exhibition spaces.
The Whitney Biennial in New York, which opens on March 17, will include a virtual reality (VR) piece by Jordan Wolfson. In February, the Sotheby’s art auction house gave people the chance to experience a “living” VR version of Salvador Dalí’s “Moment de Transition.” In January, artist KAWS exhibited his VR project at the New York Public Library, and the London Academy of the Arts even brought objects from its exhibition “Virtually Real” back to the real world, using 3D printing.
Armed with futuristic headsets, motions sensors and specially designed interfaces, artists from all sorts of backgrounds are exploring this new medium. DW spoke to four international VR artists and asked them what it is like to be at the forefront of a new artistic movement, and what this shift means for traditional art.
The virtual illustrator
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Stuart Campbell: From comic books to VR
The Australian outback might not appear to be a likely setting for someone working at the forefront of technological innovation – but from his home in the desert, Stuart Campbell is trying to take his experience in traditional illustration and comic book art in a very new direction.
“I’ve been drawing for a long time, and all of those skills are being translated to this new medium,” the 36-year-old VR artist explains.
“Of course I have to adapt to the fact that I’m suddenly drawing in a three-dimensional space and my artwork is floating around me.”
In the virtual world just as in the real one, Campbell believes his work always comes down to telling a story. VR should be the perfect storytelling tool, given the potential for almost total immersion – everything a user sees, hears and in some cases even feels can be controlled by the designer.
But audiences also get restless when they are not given enough autonomy to explore a virtual space. With the development of the technology allowing users to move freely within a VR space, known as “room scale,” they will be much more likely to go AWOL.
“You’re giving the audience some agency,” says Campbell, “but at the same time you don’t want interactivity to get in the way of the story. It’s an interesting balance of making it intuitive enough that they don’t have to think too much about how to interact with it.”
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“The limitations of the borders of a 2D frame no longer apply,” Nakpil says of his new line of work. “I can create a scene in VR and have someone feel like they’re standing in front of a nine-foot-high ogre.”
Despite spending so much time in the virtual world, most of Nakpil’s art idols – from Michelangelo to Beth Cavener Stichter – belong to the physical artistic realm. He also does not believe traditional forms of art will be diminished by the rise of VR.
“I’ve always been meaning to get back to sculpting in clay, which for me, will always be the high bar,” he says. “Digital, whether it’s VR or a 2D screen, just can’t compare to holding real clay in your hands.”
The virtual curator
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Philip Hausmeier: Pioneering a new wave
“The power of virtual reality is that it goes beyond the conscious,” says Philip Hausmeier, a contemporary VR artist from Berlin, Germany. “It really pushes your emotions, because it affects your body really heavily.”
The fine arts graduate has a background in sculpture and installation, but when the first version of the Oculus Rift VR headset came out four years ago, he made the bold decision to switch to virtual reality.
“I saw the potential,” he explains, “you could overcome physical limits and create spaces that just never existed before.”
Hausmeier taught himself how to use VR equipment and programs as they were released. He founded a company which curated its first virtual exhibition of contemporary art last year. The exhibition ran in California and Madrid, and will be shown at the Center for Art and Media in Karslruhe, Germany, this summer.
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Source: DW