Curator Aura Seikkula put together her dream exhibition in Virtual Art Gallery, where the material and logistical issues aren’t a problem.

“A picture only exists when it is looked at”, says Marisha Rasi-Koskinen’s in her novel, REC’s prologue. In the same way, a piece of Art only materialises the moment it is experienced. This is how Art curator Aura Seikkula sees it. Seikkula is curating the Layers x Exhibitions Virtual Art Gallery exhibition series.

Say what?

Virtual Art Gallery is an exclusively virtual Art gallery that doesn’t exist anywhere physically. Still, when a person enters, she is instantly inside an elegant gallery space. The exhibition is enhanced with audio, and the visitor can move between rooms through doors. There’s light reflecting on the floor, coming through skylights. And, of course, fantastic Artwork is hung up on the walls. Except that nothing really hangs or comes through because they exist only virtually.

Behind Virtual Art Gallery’s architecture is a Finnish technology start-up Arilyn. Seikkula says that there is a lot of architectural research behind Virtual Art Gallery. For example, different spaces are designed with minimalism and modernism architecture in mind, and the design principles are then transformed into 3D models.

And lighting, that is a crucial element.

“Imitating natural light is a whole thing of its own. In some exhibitions, natural light is welcomed, but some require the traditional white-cube gallery lighting to give the desired effect.“

From a curator’s viewpoint, putting together a virtual exhibition offers exceptional privileges: it is possible to gather together internationally exciting artists under one theme.

“For each of them, appropriate space is selected, and the exhibitions launch every week. People can experience them separately or as a whole. There are no restrictions on space, and the exhibitions can co-exist simultaneously. There is much more creative freedom.”

The artists Seikkula has picked have essentially in common that they are the ones Seikkula has wanted to work with for a long time. Either for the first time or once again, like with Udondian and a Belgian artist Jurgen Ots. Nigerian Victoria Udondian’s colourful exhibition is the first of the series. Udondian, working in Lagos, and Ots, based in Brussels, both utilise re-purposed materials in their work. Finns Reima Nevalainen and Kristiina Uusitalo both work with painting in a way that fascinates Seikkula.

In her 15-year career, Seikkula has curated Art exhibitions worldwide, for example, in Nigeria and Columbia. For years, she lived in Stockholm and curated exhibitions for Kulturhuset Stadstearn and Artipelag Art Hall. She has also been the curator for contemporary Art event Art Helsinki, and everything from active sub-culture scene to institutional structures and Art market context.

“Virtual reality enables us to get rid of ecological burdens, such as logistics and travelling and makes it possible to focus on content creation purely. It would be a little harsh to say that Art is the peak of human thinking. Of course, we as humankind do a lot more intellectually significant. But Art is something that only us humans can create and experience together. It is a medium for creating importance and share experiences.”

The exhibition series launched on the 17th of March is the first series on Virtual Art Gallery platform. How does it differ from other Art galleries’ virtual exhibitions? Seikkula explains:

“They are basically websites where people can look at the Art on their browsers. In my mind, that doesn’t really count as an experience. In a virtual space, we can display the Art in its right proportions, which is significant. That is how they obtain spatial context and relation to each other. Art is always a shared experience, and that is, for sure, what we all long for.”

Virtual Art Gallery aims to answer that need by offering an online space to experience Art.

“Only in the encounter of a person and the Artwork, the dialogue needed for Art to come true arises. In the same way as a book is just an object before someone opens it and starts the dialogue.”

Seikkula believes that virtual space doesn’t undermine the meaning of physical space or the real Art itself.

“Vice versa. It is a new and different kind of space and a way to experience Art that cannot be compared to a physical one. But the meaning of Art experiences is enormous now when physical Art is unreachable. Virtual Art Gallery is open and accessible for everyone, everywhere, for free.”

The original Finnish article was published in Helsingin Sanomat.
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000007870370.html