Architecture of multisensory experiences at the intersection of the physical and virtual worlds

Nourathar’s Hypnosophical Curiosities combine augmented reality, interaction, optical illusionism and other hi & lo-tech mirages, to explore the ability of light to expand beyond the limitations of screens and flat surfaces. They capture and materialize light as it collides with different realities and highlight its potential to cross and unify multiple dimensions. The studio’s creative use of the electromagnetic principles which determine the behaviour of light, accentuates the subjective nature of vision and reality.

Their augmented mini-scenographies incorporate a variety of technological tricks, proto-cinematic techniques and digital tools, to draw audiences into a dreamscape inhabited by futurities from an imaginary past. The impact of technology on how we perceive and relate to the world, is a recurring theme in the work of Nourathar’s members. Much of the studio's work honors early inventors, sourcerers and light-art pioneers who would incorporate science to their magic shows and develop tricks based on the latest advances in electricity, optics or mechanics, to tease the perception of the viewer and invoke wonder. Nourathar’s aim is to recover this fascination for the magic of technology.

Lumnorama recently presented a series of interactive and site-specific installations by Nourathar Studio which invite users to explore the connections between the light, colour and sound spectra. The visitor’s physical experience with these artworks generates further correspondences with the environment. In this way, the gallery becomes a sensitive space, an audiovisual instrument with an invisible interface that allows for an intuitive experience of the work, in which audiences become active participants of the artwork, instead of passive spectators.