Unity in variety: summer group show at Load

The Load gallery is pleased to announce new group show "Unity in variety" that investigates the diverse techniques trending in contemporary digital art. From 4 July to 10 August 2024, the exhibition will feature video works by 12 media artists. 

The show focuses on video as an artistic output, a result of various creative processes, rather than a medium. Load highlights several methods–generative art, data visualisation, filming, and AI-powered deep learning–that artists use to produce video, emphasising equally the creative journey and the end result. Rather than an exhaustive survey, it aims to capture a snapshot of 2024, reflecting the current trends and innovations in digital art.

Traditionally, the most common way to get a video has been filming—using cameras to capture real-life scenes. Video art, a form of artistic expression that relies on video technology as its primary medium, branched out of the cinema in the 1960s as a more experimental field, often manipulating time, motion, and sound to convey the artist's vision. 

True mavericks of digital art, Hamill Industries–a Barcelona-based duo whose studio resembles a mixture of a lab and workshop–present two video works that utilise a range of in-camera techniques such as time-lapse, slow-motion pigments, and Schlieren flow visualisation. Both videos are themed around ecology and human impact on nature; the artists employed photographic techniques to capture light beyond the visible spectrum (UV and Infrared) to explore ways of seeing complexities, forces, and natural phenomena that are not obvious to the human eye.

YonkersVidal, a Canadian video artist, films chemical reactions under a microscope, creating colourful and intricate visuals that seem digitally enhanced but are purely organic. Thomas Vanz, a French piano composer and director, made his award-winning film "Novae" by dropping ink in water and filming the resulting stains. This 'analogue' approach forms the cornerstone of their practices.

Photographer Claire Droppert presents live photos depicting surreal animals made of shifting sands suspended in the air. At first glance, her work might appear to be AI-generated or CGI, but in reality, the images are exactly what they seem: Droppert threw sand and flowers into the air and photographed them, achieving a sense of the unreal through the play of light.

Together, Hamill Industries, YonkersVidal, Thomas Vanz, and Claire Droppert are juxtaposed with a group of artists who generate their art on the computer, rather than filming real-life phenomena.

Gaining traction over the last two years, generative art has become one of the most prominent currents within digital art. It is an artistic practice that relies on autonomous systems, often through algorithms and computational processes, to create art. Instead of making artwork, an artist sets up a system with specific rules and parameters that generates unpredictable and unique outputs. Generative art often incorporates randomisation and iteration, so that artworks can evolve in real time or in response to viewer interaction. Andy Duboc, Dimitri Thouezry, Jason Ting, Josef Pelz, Mario Carrillo and Simon Rydén used the generative output to create narratives, that gradually unveil while visitors walk through the gallery. 

Cao Yuxi's "Shan Shui Paintings by AI" series used an advanced artificial intelligence deep learning algorithm to study tens of thousands of pixel data from diverse oriental freehand ink paintings found online. Then the AI, trained on this extensive dataset, autonomously generated video landscapes. Additionally, Cao Yuxi incorporated 3D software to simulate dynamic effects such as water flow, creating captivating "naked eye 3D" visual effects.

CLAUDE's videos are based on data visualisation: the artist leverages site-specific data, such as sea movements, wind flow, and air quality, transforming it into signals that become elements of his abstract nature depictions. 

Each artist will present a mini-solo show, with all nine gallery screens dedicated to their work for eight minutes. This creates a comprehensive two-hour experience, allowing viewers to immerse themselves fully in each artist's unique vision.

"While preparing catalogues, I was struck by the contrasting techniques of artists who sent us videos—one created using CGI, another traditional filming. This exploration of varied methodologies is fundamental to digital art. It’s fascinating to observe how technology shapes the medium and is, in turn, shaped by it, with artists continually pushing boundaries and discovering novel ways to articulate their visions. This exhibition aims to start a dialogue on the latest trends and future directions in digital art. 

As a gallery, our mission extends beyond showcasing art; we aim to educate and inspire our audience, fostering a deeper appreciation for various ways of artistic expression." 

–Alex Simorré, Load founder