(IM)POSSIBLE WORLDS – FIBER exhibits up-and-coming audiovisual artists

Reviewers:
Evangelia Anagnostaki, Paola Gulian & Despoina Mountanea.

Info:     24/08-28/09
FIBER exhibits up-and-coming audiovisual artists at NIMK
with works by: Nicolas Andreas Fischer,Leon Lubberdink & Robin Koek, Matthias Oostri, Gabey Tjon A Tham,Lieven van Velthoven

Just a day before its closing, we decided to visit and review this collaborative audiovisual art exhibition and, as a matter of fact, it was a really good choice. FIBER, is an Amsterdam based audiovisual network festival and in this case, it was invited by NIMK (Netherlands Media Art Institute) to curate an exhibition of audiovisual artists ,that created interactive and new technology artworks. The exhibition was under the name of (Im)possible worlds and ran from 23rd August until September 30th at platform 2 of NIMK. As the title reveals, the exhibition merged the possible and the impossible, the real and the virtual world, making the visitor feel that a new world is being created. The installations of this exhibition were 5 and the 3 of them are described further down.

Works on display:
– SCHWARM – Nicolas Andreas Fischer Generative software process, 2012, Dimensions variable
– ))))) repetition at my distance – Gabey Tjon A Tham Kinetic/light/sound installation, 2012
– Sound Of Signals – Leon Lubberdink & Robin Koek Six-channel interactive sound sculpture, 2012
– PLPLPL.PL PT.9: (Lost presence) – Mathias Oostrik Interactive installation, 2012
– Virtual Growth – Lieven van Velthoven Interactive projection mapping installation, 2010
– Databooth – Sietse van Der Meer (FIBER) & Heinze Havinga (Left Foot Media) Data/art project, ongoing

VIRTUAL GROWTH – Lieven van Velthoven Interactive projection mapping installation, 2010
One of the 5 installations was the “Virtual Growth” by  Lieven Van Velthoven, a game designer and hacker, who also in his website uses interactivity to catch the eye of the visitor. The Virtual Growth is a 2010 project by Velthoven that invites you “Watch virtual ‘life’ overgrow the real world”.
It is an interactive projection mapping installation, that uses a projector, a laptop and an infrared camera. It runs in real time and it is completely free, to change, according to its users moves. In Lieven van Velthoven’s YouTube Channel you can see more about his projects and installations and of course the specific one, as shown in the next teaser.
In (Im)possible worlds, the wall had a tree-shaped form and the visitor, by moving his body and his arms could light the outline of it, as shown in the picture. He actually created the final result of the installation and could totally change it, according only to his movements. An installation that makes the viewer feel creative and an active participant of the exhibition, as is totally differentiated from the traditional non-participatory installations, that encourage the passive looking of the visitor.

PLPLPL.PL PT.9: (Lost presence) – Matthias Oostrik Interactive installation, 2012
Another one of the 5 installations was the PLPLPL.PL PT.9: (Lost presence) by Matthias Oostrik’s installation is an interactive mapping sculpture that shows different moments in time by filming the audience and projecting their images onto the sculpture. The installation attempts to interact with the audience and try and show them a different perception of time and space.
What I found fascinating about this piece of art was how different members of the audience perceived the involvement. The piece made each person of the audience react, feel and interact differently. The image of the audience has been distorted through the lens of the camera and the installation has allowed the audience to see themselves through a media perspective.
It makes the viewer feel as if he is looking at themselves through a fragmented window that shows an alternative reality. Giving the impression that the artist is trying to provoke the audience to have a reaction to his work.

SCHWARM – Nicolas Andreas Fischer Generative software process, 2012
Andreas Nicolas Fischer,  in his work “Schwarm”, gives the chance to the audience to experience the ephemeral nature of a constantly changing composition. “Schwarm” falls into the field of generative art. What attracts the artist, as mentioned in his interview by Patrick Caire, is the ease that digital processes provide in creating a couple thousand strokes in the same time.
In this piece of art, the visitor experiences newfound emotions while standing in front of a sequence of multi colored liquid-like landscapes. Impressive is the fact that he is not able to realize the change of the picture while he is viewing it for the first time, unless he moves on to the next installation and comes back after a while. Then the visitor gets surprised with the realization that he was unable to perceive the change occurring in front of his eyes; a change that is actually the result of overlapping traces left by a set of moving drawing particles.
In “Schwarm”, picture escapes from the static nature of the classic artworks and passes to the stage of static change; the computer is to software what painter is to paintbrush.

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF EXHIBITION: 
As a general overview and critique of this deeply interactive exhibition, we came to the conclusion that FIBER in collaboration with NIMK, made a pretty important attempt to make the new media art with post-modern, audiovisual elements known to the public and contribute to new aesthetics, an art movement that stresses the material and physical processes in the making of visual art. Furthermore, the most striking thing about (Im)possible worlds for the 3 of us was the feeling we had that art this form, becomes more approachable and more comprehensible for the public, not so aware and informed about it.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Aesthetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_art
http://nimk.nl/eng/
http://www.fiber-space.nl/
http://anf.nu/
http://www.magdatt.nl/
http://www.lievenvv.com/
http://www.heinzehavinga.nl/
http://www.gabeytjonatham.com/
http://www.robinkoek.nl/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://art-sponge.com/2012/08/in-the-studio-interview-artist-andreas-nicolas-fischer/