'Art in Metaverse' gathers digital pieces from 52 countries

Arts & Design

Published: 02 Feb. 2022, 16:08

'Art in Metaverse' gathers digital pieces from 52 countries

″Locked″ (2020) by Turkish artist Beryl Bilici is one of the top five artists chosen by Artscloud in its art submission contest held last year. [ARTSCLOUD]

Contemporary art explores the future of the digital world, in a way that now has artists create their own metaverses and present them in video art, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

“Art in Metaverse,” on display at Under Stand Avenue, a cultural complex in Seoul Forest in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, is an exhibition that has collaborated with 100 artists from 52 nations.

The exhibition is hosted by Artscloud, a local art management startup. From October to November last year, Artscloud held its first edition of “Artscloud Digital Art Fair,” a contest that aims to discover rising artists through their submissions of digital art. A total of 3,041 artworks from 52 regions were entered and some 110 were chosen to be included in the exhibition.

The exhibition is being held offline and will also be available online via the Vertical Metaverse Platform, currently in development by Artscloud. It is expected to officially launch within the first half of the year.

″Sounds of the Sky. Blue Lighthouse″ (2021) by Latvian artist Olga Golubeva is also one of the top five artists. [ARTSCLOUD]

The offline exhibition is divided into three sections. The first section showcases nearly all the digital artworks of the 100 artists who were selected for the art fair, and in particular highlights pieces from the artists who ranked in the top five.

Among them, Beryl Bilici, a 27-year-old artist from Turkey, presents 3-D video art piece “Locked” (2020), portraying how even though the boundaries of time and knowledge have expanded, humans are becoming more and more confined. It shows a robotic human stuck inside a glass digital cage.

The second section focuses on works of local and foreign artists who are already active in the new media art scene, like 3-D graphics, coding, video games and VR.

“The Bird Lady” (2017) by Korean artist Kwon Ha-youn presents a VR experience that invites visitors to a dreamlike sequence in Paris . [ARTSCLOUD]

The entire exhibition is comprised of large video screens from beginning to end, with gadgets like VR headsets or gaming equipment available for visitors to “experience” the artworks. In 41-year-old Kwon Ha-youn’s “The Bird Lady” (2017), a VR experience invites visitors to a dreamlike sequence in Paris and tells the story of Daniel, Kwon’s teacher, involving imaginary birds for about five minutes.

The offline exhibition stands as a bridge between reality and the virtual world, Kim Bo-hyung, CEO of Artscloud said at a press event on Jan. 20. “Each artwork acts like its own metaverse as it shows the artist’s artistic world in a digital form.”

“Art in Metaverse” runs through May 31. Under Stand Avenue is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The complex is closed on the day of Lunar New Year, Feb. 1. Tickets are 20,000 won ($16.80) for adults and can be purchased on Interpark. For more information, visit www.artscloud.net.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]