Opening: TH 04 10 2018, 7:00 pm

Duration: FR 05 10 – SA 24 11 2018

Curated by Martin Kusch, Alexandra Schantl and Ruth Schnell

PROGRAMME

SA 06 10 2018, 6:00 pm – 1:00 am

The Long Night of Virtuality (within  ORF Lange Nacht der Museen)

DO 22 11 2018 (within VIENNA ART WEEK)

6:00 pm Curators tour with Alexandra Schantl and Ruth Schnell

7:30 pm Performance The Swarming Gallery by  kondition pluriel (Martin Kusch / Marie-Claude Poulin)

(+öffentlichen Führungen sobald Termine fixiert)

Full immersion! The exhibition #fuckreality opens doors to virtual worlds.

The image is omnipresent: Entranced people staring at displays on their televisions, smartphones, tablets, or computers. The launch into a new era of virtuality is in full swing, and innovations in virtual reality technologies are pushing forward in great strides. In the exhibition #fuckreality at the Kunstraum Niederoesterreich focuses on a topic that the art world often neglects because it is stigmatised by associations with Hollywood productions and the globalised taste of the masses. Is it even possible to counter the commercial interests of Google & Co and reveal new modes of perception? #fuckreality presents artistic positions that explore and question the promises of the digital world. Alexandra Schantl, Martin Kusch, and Ruth Schnell have curated this exhibition which features the work of artists who graduated from or teach at the Department of Digital Art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

#fuckreality  or the human passion for virtuality

“We are increasingly confronted with virtual reality: Furniture stores offer 3D planning and tours, fashion outlets invite you to virtual fitting rooms,” state the curators of the exhibition #fuckreality. “So it is due time do give a forum to artistic positions that critically investigate these developments.” In post-factual times, when algorithms have significant influence on opinion-making, our trust in reality is dwindling. Parallel, our curiosity about the promises of virtual and soon also augmented reality is on the rise—it is becoming more and more commonplace in our everyday, for the simulations of reality are more believable and enthralling today than ever before. Image space is becoming real

The exhibition #fuckreality features artworks that explore the interfaces between the real and the virtual. A special focus is placed on projects that create immersive image environments via VR and AR displays or fulldome projections while questioning them at the same time. Visitors delve into digitally generated spaces that interweave with the real surroundings or mask it out entirely. Ultimately, it involves one of the age-old devices in art: illusion. In the framework of a research project the Department of Digital Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna has constructed a dome which will be specially installed in the Kunstraum. Fulldome, augmented/mixed reality environments, and works  using headmounted VR displays invite visitors to virtual worlds where they can personally experience different forms of illusion generation. 

Artists:

Marian Essl, Elif and Wolfgang Fiel, Thomas Hochwallner, Johannes Hucek, Margarete Jahrmann, Patrick K.-H., Nicolaj Kirisits, Stefan Krische, Martin Kusch/kondition pluriel, Bobby Rajesh Malhotra, Tina Muliar, Patrícia J. Reis, Ruth Schnell, Franz Schubert, The (new) Constellation (Tina Kult with Tímea Strott  and Ágnes Várnai, Norbert Unfug, Peter Várnai, Daniela Weiss

The exhibition #fuckreality was realised in cooperation with  of the Department of Digital Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.