With Art Basel’s OVR presentation, there is no excuse to miss this year’s biggest art world event. Here are our top digital art picks for you to immerse yourself in, either IRL, or from the comfort of home.
Louisa Gagliardi, Tête-à-tête (2022)
UNLIMITED: Galeria Dawid Radziszewski, Galerie Eva Presenhuber
Gagliardi’s Tête-à-tête is an enchanting large-scale piece created in Photoshop and printed onto a PVC banner. A dystopian rendition of a dinner party scene makes the viewer feel discomfort while the rich composition holds on to attention. Transparent glassware and spilled liquid are picked up again in the holographic quality of the anonymous seated figures. Voyeurism is a focus of Gagliardi’s practice and here this is reiterated by the faces in the drinks and the compact mirror reflection. The referential scene of the ‘white cube’ gallery shown in the silver jug adds a satirical tone to the piece. The robotic feel of the work reinforces the digital medium.
Suzanne Treister, SURVIVOR (F) (2016–2019)
UNLIMITED: P.P.O.W, Annely Juda Fine Art
Since the 1980s, Suzanne Treister has been exploring the relationship between technology and society. Survivor (F) imagines a realm outside of time and space and depicts visual manifestations of a future universe. Playing with text, colour, shape, and pattern, some pieces touch abstraction while others enter into futurism. We recommend experiencing “THE SUBLIME OBJECT OF MACHINE TELEPORTATION” with Treister.
Gerwald Rockenschaub, buttercups&bulbs (connected selek) 1 (2022)
Mehdi Chouakri
Bold colour and biomorphic shapes grab the viewer’s attention in Rockenschaub’s buttercups&bulbs series. Simple minimalistic tendencies allow for complex thought, as Bauhaus elements combine with Pop.
John Gerrard, Flare (Oceania) (2022)
PACE
PACE’s exploration of digital art showcases a sculpture by John Gerrard. Displayed using real-time computer graphics the simulation uses satellite data, photographic documentation, 3D scanning and motion capture. The scene has been virtually rendered using complex algorithms. Toying with themes of Land Art, Gerrard presents stark and simple landscapes, allowing the viewer to meditate on such realistic unreality.
Ei Arakawa, Don’t Give Up (Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, cir 1889, & The Family, cir 1886) (2022)
Galerie Max Mayer
Continuing the exploration into parenthood and babies, Arakawa uses two paintings by Mary Cassatt transforming them into an LED painting. Drawing on art historical notions of Mother and Child, this work encourages the viewer to consider the shifts in parenthood in the digital age.
Özgür Kar, PLEASE, CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION (2022)
Edouard Montassut
Kar’s contemporary, digital take on the dance macabre character continues to excite and amuse in this solo booth. Witty and provoking is the notion of a cartoon requesting to ‘cancel his subscription’. This resonates as we are aware of the control apparent in this media age, with the skeletons manipulating the figure, while confined within their own screen.
Sara Sadik, Ultimate Vatos : Force & Honneur (2022)
Galerie Crèvecœur
Enter into the fictional social experiment programme: Ultimate Vatos. Male participants are recruited and ranked based on an algorithm that determines their violence potential based on their pre-existing and historic social, political, financial, and emotional violence. The video presents an apocalyptic fantasy following one man, Saïsai, and his journey. Using various video recording techniques, we see closely the responses to isolation and regulation, serving as a critique on our current digitally controlled climate.
All images courtesy of the artists, galleries, and Art Basel.
