For the last 5 years VIVE Arts, the art and technology initiative of the Taiwanese company HTC, has been leading the charge in innovative digital art. From its work with museums and institutions, exploring web3 components of the field, the company has been dedicated to unlocking the potential of VR, XR, blockchain and more to shape the future of art experiences. We met with Samantha King, its Head of Programme.
Cover: OF WHALES, by WuTsang_OfWhales, credits: Matteo De Fina
VIVE Arts, The Beginning
Samantha King – VIVE Arts launched in 2017 with the aim of supporting artists and cultural institutions to explore how advanced technologies can be used to transform how art and culture is created, shared and experienced. At the beginning, we worked mainly with museums, enabling them to develop VR (virtual reality) experiences that brought a new dimension to their collections and exhibitions, as well as supporting the hardware or physical installation of these digital works. We quickly started to form relationships with contemporary artists, who were interested in exploring immersive technology as an artistic medium and how using these tools could bring their creative vision to life in new forms.
S. K. – VIVE Arts has now partnered with over fifty international institutions, enabling leading museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Triennale Milano in Milan to use VR for the first time and we have worked with some of the world’s most visionary artists on their first immersive artworks – such as Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Cai Guo-Qiang and most recently Wu Tsang and Albert Oehlen.
S. K. – In 2021, VIVE Arts initiated a new dimension for the programme by launching our online NFT (non-fungible token) platform, expanding our remit to support artists and institutions to experiment with blockchain technologies. We have continued our collaborations with artists and institutions we have worked with previously, including the Mucha Foundation and Kristjana S. Williams, to co-produce and commission new NFT art projects that can reach audiences and online communities in new ways.
A Relationship with Artists
S. K. – An important part of our mission is to combine the creative potential of technology with artists’ extraordinary vision, opening up new forms of artistic expression. We always strive to form strong, ongoing relationships with the artists that we work with so that they can continue to experiment with digital tools, whether it’s to expand their practice in a new direction or explore different ideas and iterations over time. We also work with artists long-term so we can showcase their remarkable projects to different audiences around the world.
S. K. – For example, we recently partnered with critically acclaimed artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang on Of Whales, an incredible real-time video installation, which we supported at the 2022 Venice Biennale and is now on view at SFMOMA in San Francisco. The work explores Herman Melville’s Moby Dick through the eyes of the whale, reimagining the narrative from a non-human, non-linear perspective. We then continued our collaboration with Wu Tsang to iterate the work as a VR experience, A Mighty Mass Emerges where audiences are immersed in a 360 degree vision of the ocean environment, as the whale completes its deep dive cycle.
S. K. – As mentioned, we have also been working closely with the brilliant London-based Icelandic artist Kristjana S. Williams, who we collaborated with on the V&A’s Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser show in 2020, bringing her surreal, multi-layered collages into a VR experience that was presented as part of the exhibition. Williams is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has always brought together both physical and digital elements. She’s passionate about engaging with audiences in new ways and so we collaborated on her first NFT project, ‘Head in the Clouds’ that launched at the end of last year.
A Collaboration with Institutions and Venues
S. K. – Our strategy has always been to support creative projects that blend virtual and physical experiences. This is so that the work can reach the widest possible audiences but also to build understanding and appreciation of digital art and to position the work in inspiring and diverse contexts.
S. K. – For our collaboration with Kristjana S. Williams, her NFT project was available online but also on view to visitors at her store on London’s Carnaby Street, where those who may not have previously encountered NFTs and digital art could see it alongside her collages and prints, putting it in the wider context of her practice. The project was also on show as part of Shifting Perspectives, a free exhibition of six works by female and non-binary creators working in immersive technology at the BFI Southbank in London in February this year. The installation showcases how blockchain technologies can be a powerful creative tool for artists and also demonstrates how NFTs can be presented as physical installations.
S. K. – We present our projects at international exhibitions and at major art world events such as the Venice Biennale and Art Basel. However, the strength of immersive technologies is that the pieces can be presented in a range of radically different online and offline contexts. We work with museums to extend access to their exhibitions and collections to online communities. For example our collaboration with the Mucha Foundation in Prague, Slav Epic VR, is available online through our VIVEPORT platform and has also be exhibited at institutions, such as the Palace Museum in Taipei, as Alphonse Mucha’s iconic, monumental paintings are too delicate to travel.
Vive Arts and the NFT World
S. K. – We believe that web3 technologies pose many creative possibilities for artists, enabling them to expand their practice and experiment with different ideas and formats. These technologies not only offer new opportunities for artistic creation, but also open up new mechanisms for income and distribution and a direct route to engage with a global community of collectors. I think that the early hype around NFTs is giving way to a more thoughtful critical discourse and greater contextualisation within the long history of digital art.
To Think outside of the VR Headset
S. K. – Over the past few years, the boundaries between physical and digital have become increasingly blurred across all aspects of our everyday lives. Immersive artworks and experiences were already becoming increasingly popular, but this was also hugely accelerated by the pandemic, as people were unable to travel and were looking for new ways to engage with their favourite artists, artworks and cultural institutions.
S. K. – Although there has been some cultural critique about certain immersive experiences, I think that the expansion of the immersive market is generally positive, as it reflects a democratisation of art and culture. Immersive experiences can bring art to new locations and audiences and can offer a fun and engaging experience for different demographics such as young people or families. As I already mentioned, many of our collaborations, especially with institutions are developed so that they can be hosted at different types of global locations, as well as being enjoyed online with or without a headset.
VIVE Arts, Next
S. K. – First up we have the third collection of Kristjana S. Williams’ Head in the Clouds project, which will drop on the VIVE Arts platform on 22 February. We then have an exciting and varied programme coming up this year including immersive and NFT collaborations with well-known artists, an institutional partnership on a major new historical art VR experience and two collaborative creative research and development projects.
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