A lot of Art Basel showcases can be a bit stiff. Some galleries set up shop, serve wine, and let visitors file past artwork like glittery cattle. But Miami's Tecné Collective plans to dazzle patrons with its unique video mapping and kinetic motion projects, using real-time human influence to enhance the experience.
Founded in 2008, Tecné Collective is a group of technologists who work with physical and digital spaces, often in the field of programmatic and audio reactive live visuals for bands, and more recently in digital installations for physical spaces by exploring the synergistic space between art and technology. The artists teamed up with Heineken's Light Your Night Challenge to interpret Heineken Light's "Bounce" campaign through the use of light.
Tecné Collective will be featured in all three Heineken events. One installation, Light::Flow, portrays an abstract representation of human movement through light and kinetic rhythm at Mana Wynwood.
See also: Heineken "Light Your Night" to Illuminate Art Basel, Destroy Grand Central
"One of main areas of research is abstract data visualization, creating visual patterns based on things like weather changes or semantic analysis of religious texts," Gorka Cortázar, resident artist at Tecné Collective, told New Times via email. "For Light::Flow, we will be using the viewer movement as an input to create an organic generative visualization that is unique to each viewer."
Another installation by Tecné Collective is Hyperopticks, a projection mapping experience to be displayed in Grand Central.
"It's an exploration of light and its properties, and a homage to some of our favorite art movements: Op Art, Art Cinétique, and Deconstructivism," Cortázar said. "For this project we filmed light experiments with laser and projections, and we will be mixing it with 3D and motion graphics to create unique patterns related to the art movements."
Tecné Collective also will showcase a small light sculpture at the Heineken Light Your Night Challenge at Goldman Warehouse, where five South Florida multimedia artists -- Yuri Tuma, Juan Carlos Zaldivar, Clifton Childree, Brandon Opalka, and Kevin Arrow -- will transform the Light Box into a maze of light installations. A panel of judges will select one of the five artists as the winner of the Challenge and award them a trip to Amsterdam, home of the Heineken.
Though producing three projects at three different locations in five days is a big undertaking, Cortázar says artistic collaboration and digital creativity are important to the art world and need representation at Art Basel Miami Beach. For the Heineken series, Tecné partnered with Klang!, an audiovisual collective based in Barcelona (Wyz Borrero, Valeria Prada and David Fernandez) and with Jason Peterman of AV-8.
"Digital art is still a sideline area in the contemporary art world...Until not so long ago, curators [who] specialized in digital art were rare," Cortázar said. "But this is changing fast in the contemporary art landscape. You can see exhibitions by artists like Ryoji Ikeda or Marius Watz all throughout the world. Our goal is to create new experiences to the viewer that wow them, but at the same time without the rigid formality of the museum-like environments."
Heineken Light The Night Challenge Exhibit Light Box at Goldman Warehouse (404 NW 26 St.), Tuesday, December 3, 8:30 p.m.
Light :Flow/Kinetic Motion Interactive Experience with live music by DARKSIDE (Nicolas Jarr and Dave Harrington) at Mana Wynwood (318 NW 23rd St.), Thursday, December 5 at 10 p.m.
Hyperopticks::Monumental Video Mapping | The Grand Finale + Official Basel Castle After Party at Grand Central (Downtown 679 N. Miami), Saturday, December 7, at 11 p.m.
Send your story tips to Cultist at [email protected].
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.
