BMW Art Club 2022
Digital Grotesque III
Nowy Teatr, Warsaw, 2022-10-6 / 2022-10-22
NOSPR, Katowice, 2023-4-14 / 2023-5-21
Curated by Stach Szabloski
Video created by Demetris Shammas, sound by Emiddio Vasquez
Exhibition Description
Michael Hansmeyer works at the juncture of architecture, programming, machine learning, and the visual arts.
Made especially for BMW Art Club, “Digital Grotesque III” is the latest iteration of a project the artist has been developing for nearly ten years now. Its first two instalments, “Digital Grotesque I” and “Digital Grotesque II” were produced in cooperation with and presented at the FRAC Centre in Orléans and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, respectively.
Hansmeyer calls his practice “computational architecture.” He studies the relationship between the designer and the computer, treating the latter as an active partner in the creative process, one capable of expanding an artist’s imagination and pushing the bounds of what is possible.
In his “Digital Grotesque” series, Hansmeyer fabricates architectural spaces with the help of custom machine learning algorithms, engaging with the figure of the Renaissance grotto – a cave that “inhabits a space between the man-made and the natural.” These spaces are not designed in the usual sense: the role of the artist was merely to set in motion and supervise the digital processes leading up to their creation. It is a strategy that has more to do with “generating” space than plotting it out on paper or using CAD software. By harnessing algorithms, the artist can produce structures with a degree of complexity rivalling that of the natural world.
The latest instalment of “Digital Grotesque” consists of two parts. The first is a multimedia installation: a digital grotto inside which viewers can see its constantly changing forms being generated. The second part is a sculpture made using this process: an ornamental column constructed out of sand by state-of-the-art 3D printers. The artefact brings the forms created by intelligent algorithms in virtual reality into our physical world. These objects have no practical function – their purpose is to be beautiful and evoke emotion, and above all to expand our thinking about what the architecture of the future might look like.
Stach Stablowski
BMW Art Club. The Future is Art is a program of innovative arts projects BMW has been doing in cooperation with leading Polish cultural instutions since 2018. BMW Art Club explores the relation- ship between the arts and advanced technology and the ideas that emerge at the intersection of the two. To date it has partnered with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) and The Grand Theatre – National Opera.
BMW Art Club. The Future is Art is part of BMW Drives Culture, a strategy consistent with the brand’s fifty years of commitment to supporting artists and art venues all over the world. BMW has become an established presence at key events like Art Basel, Paris Photo and Art Dubai; it is involved in projects with leading art institutions such as Tate Modern, London; and has forged creative part- nerships with some of the greatest names in contemporary art, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jenny Holzer, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Nick Knight, and Anne Imhof.
Digital Grotesque III in figures
| Venue: | BMW Art Club 2022 Nowy Teatr ul. Madalińskiego 10/16, Warsaw 2022-10-6 / 2022-10-22 |
| Video Installation: | 4 continuous screens (9.0m x 5.5m each) at Nowy Teatr, Warsaw Single wide-screen (16.0m x 3.0m) at NOSPR, Katowice 7680 x 1200 resolution, 4-channel sound 7:00 duration |
| Sculpture: | Material: 3D printed sand, resin, paint Dimensions: 1.6m x 1.6m x 5.0m, 2.5 tons Resolution: 0.13mm layer height, 0.8mm3 voxelization |
People
| Video created by: | Demetris Shammas |
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| Sound: | Emiddio Vasquez |
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| Curator: | Stach Szablowski |
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| Executive producer: | Joanna Manecka |
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| Construction: | Tadeusz Perkowski |
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| Visual identity: | Noviki | |
| Teaser: | Sebulec |
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| Voxelization: | Benjamin Dillenburger / DBT ETHZ |
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Partners
| Organizer: | BMW |
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| Production: | Sto Lampartow |
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| Partner: | Nowy Teatr |
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| Technology Partner: | Epson |
Fabrication
Fabrication of the scultpure took place at Voxeljet AG. Post-processing and coating was performed by Laskowski & Sandecki.
