And far from boring, traditional paintings of flowers, birds, and mountains, K11 has some cutting-edge work on display right now at their Metamorphosis Of The Virtual World exhibit, running until August 31st. It's a collaboration between emerging French and Chinese artists as part of the 50th anniversary of China and France's diplomatic relations. Norway has a hand in this too, with its artist and her beautiful chrome blob animations.
The show focuses on five themes: Flux, Life Forms, Cityscape, Morphogenetic, and Avatar, and does so by surrounding the viewer with psychedelic 360 degree video projection walls, walking anatomy books by the French plastic-surgery artist , motion sensor experiments, a map of human emotions drifting around the world through Internet connections and, most impressive, short film Microcosm, which cynically sums up all of human history.
We're about to enter the world of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR). The is set to launch later this year and Sony has out sometime next year. Biotechnology is getting crazy too. Much like 80s babies were the last generation to grow up without the Internet, we're probably in the last era without virtual and augmented reality all up in our shit. These are the thoughts that entered my head when wandering around this dark basement gallery.
By far, the coolest work in here is Miao Xiaochun's Microcosm. This roughly fifteen-minute computer animation, with its aesthetic, shows the progress of humanity from organic to digital, ending in fire and another ice age, with the remains of humanity blasted off into space along with a science book of animals [assumedly] now extinct. The sound of keyboard typing hauntingly provides most of the soundtrack. Think: Pink Floyd's The Wall animation meets The Lawnmower Man. Very cool. The 20rmb admission is worth it for this one alone.
This last piece below shows just how far we've come with digital technology and pushes the idea that basically every tech/virtual idea will one day become a reality, just like VR. The whole exhibit makes the viewer consider where we've been, where we're at now, and where we're headed. So if you're in the area, or just buying some new white T's at Uniqlo or something, spend an hour down in K11's basement. It's pretty damn cool.
Metamorphosis Of The Virtual World is open daily at K11 from 10am-8pm. The admission fee is 20rmb, which goes to a charity to support kids doing art. You get a little book for free too. Score!
There's also lectures every Saturday from 4鈥�6pm. Some of these sound really cool. These are our picks:
July 12: New Media: Back to the Future -- Lowbrow, Psychedelia and Value-Rationality
July 26: An Un-Preseted Conversation (this one is by Miao Xiaochun, the dude who made the Microcosm film)
August 23: Wearable Avatar Workshop 1: Making Oculus Rift with Your Cell Phone
August 30: Wearable Avatar Workshop 2: Augmented Reality Nail Salon
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