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LUMNORAMA
LUMNORAMA
Synesthetic devices and sensitive spaces
| KEY CONCEPTS:
• Augmented reality / convergence of physical and virtual elements
• Human Computer Interaction (HCI) / embodied interaction
• Machine learning
• Digital synaesthesia / Ideasthesia
• Correspondence between: Sound, color, shape, motion
• Sensitive spaces / shared interaction environment
• Light in space
• Confluence of analog and digital media
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Every act of perception is, to some extent, an act of creation
G.M. Edelman (1929 - 2014)
Nourathar Studio is a creative technologies lab based in Ibiza, formed by Caen Botto and Marta Rupérez. In Lumnorama they present a new series of installations and audiovisual artworks that combine augmented reality and interaction, with analogue media and old technologies. The exhibition invites visitors to consider the ability to perceive of the technologies and spaces which surround us.
The interactive installations and audiovisual devices in the exhibition explore the physical properties of light, using optical illusions which highlight the synesthetic correspondences between the spectra of light, color and sound.
A first group of artworks combine technological antiques and analogue media with augmented reality. In all of them the animation is approached with a musical sense of rhythm and balance.
Nourathar's aim is to explore the impact of technology on our perception, as well as the subjective nature of reality. This research materializes in the interactive installations, where the user's physical experience generates new correspondences with the environment. In this way, the gallery space becomes a sensitive space, an audiovisual instrument with an invisible interface that allows for an intuitive experience of the work, in which visitors become active participants of the artwork, instead of passive spectators.
The combination of new technologies with ancient knowledge in Nourathar's work, allows for the construction of expanded realities. These evoke timeless concepts such as the role that our imagination plays in the process of perception and creation of a reality filtered through the veil of illusion of the mind.
Cabinet of Hypnosophical Curiosities
The creative technologies lab, Nourathar Studio, presents a new series of hypnosophical tricks and devices which combine augmented reality with obsolete technologies.
Through high-tech optical illusions which highlight the synaesthetic correspondences between the light, colour and sound spectrums, Nourathar's aim is to explore the impact of technology on our perception and the subjective nature of reality. Their research articulates contemporary history and archaeology with the aim of recovering antique tricks, optical illusions or scientific conjurations from XIXth century stage magic, which, when combined with contemporary media, become futurities from an imaginary past and memories from an oneiric future.
With the collaboration of: Colección Beep de Arte Electrónico, Ajuntament de Sant Josep de sa Talaia, ArtFutura |
Oniritronix
The exhibition presents the latest, unreleased creations by Nourathar, a combination of augmented reality, interaction and optical illusionism. Oniritronix illustrates a new stage in the duo’s exploration into the ability of light to expand beyond the limitations of screens and flat surfaces. The multimedia devices on view incorporate a variety of technological tricks and combine proto-cinematic techniques with digital tools, to draw audiences into a dreamscape inhabited by futurities from an imaginary past With this new series of work the Ibiza-based, art & technology studio conveys the potential of light to cross and unify multiple dimensions. Their aim is to capture and materialize light as it collides with different realities: from the virtual to the physical, across time and space, highlighting the liminal space-in-between. Nourathar’s previous Light Sculptures were a direct, contemporary interpretation of the 19th century Pepper’s Ghost, a magic trick used to create the illusion of spectres appearing on stage. The new series illustrates a step further in the creative use of the electromagnetic principles which determine the behaviour of light and are at the root of the subjective nature of vision. The impact of technology on how we perceive and relate to the world, is a recurring theme in the work of Nourathar’s members. Their aim is to recover the fascination felt for the magic of technology around the turn of the 20th Century. Illusionists such as Jean Eugène Robert–Houdin, Georges Méliès or Segundo de Chomón represent this fascination. These sorcerers would incorporate science and technology to their shows and develop tricks based on the latest advances in electricity, optics or mechanics, to invoke wonder in the spectator. Another reference in Nourathar’s work, is that of Visual Music as expressed in abstract films by Oskar Fischinger, Viking Eggeling, Hans Richter or Walter Ruttman in the 1920’s (also known as Absolute Film). Oniritronix exemplifies a similar exploration into the relation between colour, light and sound, even in the works which are silent: akin to sound composition, the visual structures develop over time. Walter Ruttman referred to this as Painting with time [2]. March - May, 2017, Ventana Contemporary
[1] William Moritz: “Towards an Aesthetics of Visual Music”; originally published in Asifa Canada, Vol. 14:3. December 1986. http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/TAVM.htm [2] Manifesto: Malerei mit Zeit, 1919. http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/source-text/19/ |
Light After Dark @ La Curva
Light After Dark is a group exhibition, curated by Ibiza Art Union, whose narrative thread focuses on light. The show features 8 Ibiza -based artists who include light, electricity or movement in their works. These elements act as a complement to the physical materials used in sculptures, paintings and other unclassifiable objects, thus expanding the narrative and compositional possibilities of the works. Light After Dark will be on view, after hours, at la Curva (via Púnica 15), May 13th - June 23rd. Appointment recommended ARTISTS: Nourathar is a creative technology studio based in Ibiza since 2013. Their art occurs at the intersection between the physical and the virtual, in the hybrid space between technology, history and magic. They create works which illustrate how light can be used as a material and subject, as well as a medium. The modulation of light is at the core of their recent Light Sculptures, based on the electromagnetic principles of refraction, diffraction and reflexion. With regards to the augmented Teatrinos, these works pay tribute to many early inventors, magicians and light-art pioneers from the turn of the 20th Century, who used optical illusions to tease and test the perception of the viewer. Nourathar's aim with these Teatrinos is to recover some of the fascination, which, at that time, was felt for magic of technology. Nika Indorf presents Stargates, a series inspired by the iris of the eye. These works materialize the mechanism through which the iris captures light and colour, making it possible for us to perceive the world as it is. They act as gates towards the stars, which aim at manifesting the reflection of the universe in the eye. Nika Indorf's work reveals her passion for physics and astrophysics and focuses on making electromagnetism visible. She has a special interest for spaces which appear void, but are made visible through the influence of light. Her pieces aim at a deeper understanding of concepts such as space, colour, energy... «Up until the point where one realizes that these depend on the observer» Light = visual perception (eye) = colour = reality Stargates = reality = colour = light = visual perception
The paintings of the Ibicencan artist Romanie are a product of a dialogue established between her inner world and the brushes. The motifs and repetitive shapes we see are the inheritance of a childhood spent in the countryside in Ibiza in the 1970’s, whilst the embodied themes in the work arise from a constant spiritual search. For Romanie painting works as a medium rather than an end in itself, she paints out of a spiritual necessity. This series of lit paintings offers the possibility of enjoying different versions of the works, depending on the light.
The Ibicencan artist Pep Monerris, BAGAIX works with recycled electronic material. His pieces invite viewers to reflect upon «New technologies and the social challenges faced with regards to obsolete systems». The artist recreates this «re-evolution» through the breakdown of concepts such as memory circuits or consciousness in sci-fi robots.
Igor Torres is an artist from Burgos, resident in Ibiza since 2016, although known to the island for the last 10 years. His eclectic style combines figurative, abstract, impressionist and expressionist styles to show the different facets of the artist: naughty and playful; naïve, bold, dreamy; inventor of colour universes, impossible galaxies, overpowering and disturbing abstractions; the eccentric and free artist from within. In the words of Antonio Gázquez: «his work is an invitation to the infinite imagination, a trip to the dark light that is revealed in his always intense work, full of passion always Torres»
Robert Arató is a multifaceted artist who has been living in Ibiza since 1996. For Light after Dark he has prepared a series of antique pieces of furniture, that have been transformed into contemporary sculptures.
Franck R. Tassi (Nice, 1942) is a self-taught artist, who lives in Ibiza since 1964. He studied electronic engineering before settling on the island. Here, the management of different commercial activities left him enough free time to create paintings and artistic structures – mobile or fixed – using his technical knowledge. The graphical representation he offers is a mixture of various elements resulting from his concern about the relation of man with the universe, society or technology. His style of expression shows man as creator as well as victim, often prisoner of his technology and even slave of his own inventions. In this – sometimes unbearable situation – there still remains an omnipresent sense of humour, which he considers the supreme form of criticism.  |
Light Sculptures @ El Hotel Pacha
Thomas Wilfred (1889 - 1968) The term Nourathar was first coined by Mary-Elizabeth Hallock-Greenewalt (1871-1951), adapted from the Arabic words for "light" (nour) and "essence of" (athar). She used it to describe the visual music created by her; The Fine Art of Light-Color Playing These recent Light Sculptures by Nourathar AV, illustrate how light can be used as material and subject, as well as a medium. The modulation of light is at the core of the dialogue we establish within the works, based on the electromagnetic principles of refraction, diffraction and reflection. These works honor many early inventors, magicians and light-art pioneers from the turn of the 20th Century, who used optical illusions to tease and test the perception of the viewer, highlighting the subjective nature of vision. Among them are Mary Hallock Greenewalt, Thomas Wilfred, The Lumière brothers, Viking Eggeling, Hans Richter or the Dadaists. As an example, the holographic mini-theatres on view are a contemporary adaptation of a magic trick popularized in 1862 by John Henry Pepper and Henry Dircks, which they used to create the illusion of ghosts appearing on theatre stages. Nourathar's work explores the ability of light to expand into space, beyond the limitations of screens and flat surfaces. Moreover its use as a channel to transmit images, we use light to design and build scenographies which combine physical and ephemeral media. Our aim is to highlight the space between the projector and the surface, drawing the audience's attention to the visibility of light in transit, instead of focusing on the moment when it meets the support.
Our members' background in augmented reality, HCI (Human Computer Interaction) and open-source initiatives nurtures our intention to dissolve the boundaries between artwork and audience, giving equal status to the image and the technology used to create it, the act of observing and the thing observed. |
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