Exhibition #AUGMENTED

On view at the SATLELLITE ART FAIR, North Miami Beach, Dec 1 though 6, 2015

Antarctic icebergs floating on the ocean off the sandy shore, a lenticular accordion sculpture stretching across two city blocks, words from "Jack and the Beanstalk" spiraling up as far as eyes can see into the clouds... Spark Art Management presents an outdoor exhibition of digital art, set in the landscape of North Miami Beach.

Titled “AUGMENTED” and curated by Seol Park, the exhibit showcases inspiring artistic visions taking shape at the intersection of art and technology, reality and imagination, physical and digital, and narrative and poetry. Spark invited seasoned American and international artists whose critically-acclaimed careers are anchored in the physical realm through paintings, sculptures, photographs, and multi-disciplinary installations, and asked each to conceive original digital art to "augment" the urban and natural landscapes of North Miami Beach. The participating artists' responses to this proposition are as thought-provoking and ambitious as they are poetic and lyrical.

The artworks are placed at various GPS points around the fair's 6-block area––between the beach and Collins Avenue, and between 72nd and 75th streets. These artworks exist in the realm of Augmented Reality (AR) and are not visible to the nake eye: they emerge only on viewers' smart phones through a free AR app (LayAR). Visitors can snap photos of the AR artwork views and share them via social media.

The exhibit aims to offer a refreshing counterpoint to the many location-agnostic, from-one-wall-to-another and from-this-tent-to-another art that dominates the content offered at today's commercial art fair scene.

All artworks are for sale; Edition of 3

Exhibition page: http://www.sparkplusart.com/#!-augmented-miami-beach/c69t

HOW TO VIEW THIS EXHIBITION: http://www.sparkplusart.com/#!/zoom/c69t/c3wv

SELECT ARTWORKS/ARTISTS

FIRST BERG (2013), MORNING BERG (2013), and SUNSET BERG (2013) by John Kelly

For #AUGMENTED, John Kelly transports (virtually speaking) Antarctic icebergs onto North Miami's sandy shore, expanding on his most recent body of work. The Antarctic paintings that served as the basis for this AR work were painted en plein air during his expedition to Antarctica in 2013 and subsequently exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. This installation furthers the themes of humorous displacement and monumentality that surface often in his oeuvre. John Kelly is one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists. His quirky, surreal, critical works span various forms of media including paintings, printmaking, and sculptures large and small.

HARP OF THE GIANT (2015), by Richard Humann

Neo conceptual artist Richard Humann frequently employs words and letters into his installations. "Harp of the Giant" is a virtual beanstalk, as in the classic tale Jack and the Beanstalk. The beanstalk is comprised of words and codes, interwoven all the way up into the clouds. Later in the story, after Jack has stolen many items from the Giant that lives in the clouds with his wife, he attempts to steal the “harp of the giant” that sings beautiful songs to him. The harp represents technology, art, music, and humanity. It is a combination of it all. It is autonomous, yet at the same time is beholden to its master, the giant. In this respect, our technological creations are both the beanstalk, born from “magic beans,” and the harp itself. We are also both Jack and the giant as well. Master and slave, landlord and thief. 

BETWEEN FUTURES (2015), by Carl Skelton

Carl Skelton's work is a "site-poem" in a lenticular accordion structure that is set up to give viewers phrase pairs with left/right views of each side of each block. The AR installation stretches across two city blocks along Collins Avenue, between 73rd and 75th streets. Depending on the interests and the particular sequence of views experienced by any individual viewer, he/she may read the piece as being about art, or the local urban context, or the systemic relationships between the two domains. Carl Skelton, born in Canada and now based in New York, is a leading thinker and practitioner of art in the public realm that bridges the arts, design, technology, and community engagement. 

URBANOTOPIA AR (2015), by Shuli Sadé Shuli

Sadé presents an AR adaptation of "Urbanotopia"–– a manipulated photo-based artwork relating to her ongoing interest in memory, accumulation, transparency, urbanism and architectural infrastructure. Shuli Sadé is a visual artist based in New York and Tel Aviv. With strong foundation in both architecture and photography, Sadé’s work explores a myriad of ideas around space, time, and memory. Sadé frequently collaborates with leading scientists and architects.

Technology Counsel: Carl Skelton, Gotham Institute

Development/GeoLayer Construction/POI design: Indicium Digital, LLC

Follow us on Instagram (@seolspark), FB (@The Satellite Show, @Spark Art Management) and Twitter (@satellite_show, @seolspark). Search hastags #artinlandscape, #tastefullydigital, #satelliteartshow, and #augmented for more images.

ORGANIZER

Spark Associates Art Management | www.sparkplusart.com

200 Park Avenue, Suite 1700, NY, NY 10166

Spark Associates is an art management agency and international artist liaison based in New York City.

THE SATELLITE SHOW is a new media/performance/installation-oriented art fair inaugurating in Miami Beach in 2015 during the Art Basel week.

Press Contact: Seol Park Spark, Associates Art Management

P: +1 415 640 9917 seol@sparkplusart.com

All images © Spark Art Management