“When you just look at it, it’s beautiful. But as soon as you touch it, you transform it.” Sandro, who goes by his first name only, is the artistic director and one of the co-founders of ARTECHOUSE a new venue near L’Enfant Plaza that promises to transform the local art scene with dazzling, interactive digital art. And he gets to the essence of the venue’s premier exhibit, XYZT: Abstract Landscapes.
In an art world where it seems like every major exhibit is selfie-central, XYZT is almost selfie-proof. Not that I didn’t take a selfie when I previewed the show. But, as Sandro explains, this is art that asks you to engage with it, that gives you back what you put into it.
XYZT is the brainchild of French artists Adrien M and Claire B, who come from a technological background that includes graphic design and juggling. In the past they have worked with dancers who interact with impressive light designs (digitally drawn by a technician who works behind the scenes). But for these installations you, the viewer, complete the equation.
The personal touch is clear as soon as you walk into the room, descending a stairwell that faces a screen in which you are part of the picture, caught on one of the venue’s cameras. But this isn’t simply an artful surveillance camera. After you recognize your presence, caught in the familiar sense of approaching a security monitor and getting that impulse to wave, your projected image doesn’t respond the way you expect; you look slower, and the further you walk, the more your image is distorted. (Imagine the effect after a glass of the Georgian grappa they serve at the bar).
This tension between the natural and the digital is seen in interactive pieces that suggest water or grass. As short blades of digital grass bend and move with your movements and “water” breaks apart and refract with your steps, this simulation of nature becomes disorienting.
A few smaller installations the size of aquariums require you to make noise or to blow air into a space that transforms floating letters into whirling designs that suggest bees, or snakes, or stick insects. In an exhibit that revels in 21st century software, these installations are based on an 18th century technology called Pepper’s Ghost.
XYZT Tour producer Joanna Rieussec echoes Sandro’s remarks about the nature of this work. “If you don’t engage with the artwork, you don’t get the full effect. It’s really about you moving and feeling and blowing and living with the installations to make the most out of them.”
The exhibit will be open to all ages from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the children who attended the preview had a particularly grand time exploring the various light shows. Evenings, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., the exhibit will be 21+ only to allow for bar service. It’s probably better that you start exploring XYZT sober, the better to navigate its illuminated elixir, but if you do hit the bar, ask for Chacha, that Georgian grappa. Much like you transform this electric art, this stuff will transform you.
XYZT: Abstract Landscapes runs through September 3 at ARTECHOUSE, 1238 Maryland Ave. SW The exhibit will be open daily from 10 a.m.—1 p.m. with 45 minute timed-entry sessions.$15. Buy tickets here.
