8 April - 25 June 2017
Opening Friday April 7 17.00
Simulacrum
What is real, what is artificial? The border between the two is beginning to fade. In the visual language of the advertising industry, the border between real photography and digitally calculated models is almost indistinguishable. This also applies to the film industry, where CGI (computer generated imagery) seamlessly blends with physically recorded footage. Furthermore, the fulfilment of the promises of VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and AI (artificial intelligence) is just around the corner.
It’s becoming somewhat of a challenge to distinguish between images that represent reality and images that depict reality. This theme lies at the heart of the exhibition: a Simulacrum stands for a simulation that takes the place of the reality it stems from.
As this technological development progresses it also becomes more accessible. What until recently was only reserved for prosperous studios now lies within the reach of individual artists. Everyday computers, game consoles, and even smartphones are so powerful that they are able to work with increasingly lifelike CGI models.
Noorderlicht shows nine artists who are fascinated by this development. Some of them manoeuvre through computer games with a virtual camera, like real reportage photographers in a virtual reality. Others construct their own images from scratch, revealing to us a new world that is barely distinguishable from reality.
Interruption (FR)
This series exposes the process of creation. The calculation process that enables these landscapes to come to life is repeatedly interrupted; the half-completed images are merged with one another. A fictional landscape becomes visible in this way, where the mathematic polygons of the calculation process still filter through.
also with works from:
Justin Berry - Videogame Landscapes (US), COLL.EO (Colleen Flaherty & Matteo Bittanti) - Fregoli Delusions (US/IT), Eelco Brand (NL), Roc Herms - Study of Perspective / Postcards from Home (ES), Gerhard Mantz - Landscapes (DE), Robert Overweg - The End of the Virtual World / Flying & Floating (NL), Alan Warburton - Assets / Spherical Harmonics (GB), Rob Wetzer - Lost Worlds (NL)