Brian Eno, Jason Bruges and other UK artists in Yota Space digital exhibition

Volume by UVA and 3D

Never mind heading to New York for a shopping trip before Christmas (if you can afford such trips, that is) – now about travelling East for some stunning digital art?

Yota Space, an exhibition of digital art that includes works by Britain’s Brian Eno and Jason Bruges, has just opened in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Described as one of the greatest collections of digital art ever assembled, it features the work of over 20 of the world’s most cutting edge digital artists including onedotzero and the legendary Brian Eno. Some of the works  have been commissioned especially for Yota, over five floors in a converted building in the heart of St Petersburg.

A prominent contemporary art enthusiast and the founder of his own video design studio, Lumen, Eno creates video installations which are accompanied by his own compositions from the the late 1970s.

His “77 Million Paintings” project – a program that creates endlessly unique digital “paintings” with individual audio accompaniment – will be presented at Yota Space.

“This is a great platform for digital art and music, which in my mind have a natural cohesion to one another,” says Eno. “I’m also delighted that it is being held in Russia as I have always had a connection with the country. As an art student my favourite period was Russian painting of the early 20th Century.

“I also lived in St Petersburg for a short while. This is the first time my work ’77 Million Paintings’ will be seen in Russia, which combines art and music, my two great loves.

The event, which will run annually, has been created by Russian wireless 4G broadband company, Yota and the festival brings together a never been seen before level of interactive digital art and brings many of Europe’s best artists to Russia for the first time.

Visitors enter to be greeted by ‘Volume’, a collaboration between design collective United Visual Artists (UVA) and 3D from Massive Attack, which consists of 47 columns of light, each with their own audio output. The visitor determines their own pathway through the columns affecting and creating their own unique journey through light, nature and space.

Guests will then receive a stunning and totally immersive sensory experience across a further four floors of installations and works that include:

• Brian Eno’s “77 Million Paintings” which provides a unique and almost infinite perspective for each visitor
Chris Levine‘s specially commissioned “Alright Now” installation which projects images to the observer’s peripheral vision(see video, below)
• In Jason Bruges’ specially commissioned “Peasouper”, visitors will appear to float through the space as passers-by in the foggy streets of London
• onedotzero has taken over an entire floor to showcase a collection of handpicked artists. Works include a digital interactive photo-booth produced by Cassette Playa and Kin Design and works by Hellicar + Lewis, AntiVJ, Quayola and more
• United Visual Artists’ “Volume” is an immersive experience that was created in collaboration with 3D from Massive Attack.
• The interactive Body Paint installation from MSA

The exhibition was launched with a multi-media party headlined by Grammy award nominated British electronic band Hot Chip. They were joined by up-and-coming acts Masters of Skweee and SCSI-9.

Yota has curated the event itself as a way to ensure that it stays at the cutting edge of contemporary culture and cultivate the creativity that sits at the heart of the brand.

“Yota Space has been created as part of our mission to transform people’s lives by giving them access to new ideas from across the globe,”  explains Dennis Sverdlov, Yota CEO. ” Yota aims to be a company that inspires, so we’ve invested in bringing together some of the most inspirational people in the world for this event.

“We hope the people of St Petersburg enjoy what promises to be one of the most unique events that Europe has seen this year.”

• The exhibition will continue at the Yota Space until 19th December 2010. For more info (in both English and Russian), visit space.yota.ru. (Be aware the web site is a bit cranky, certainly from my experience)



Categories: British Comics

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