Sans asile, 2020
Zeichnung, AR, App Artivive, 2020, Wettbewerb, awarded
Artist Interview I Carina Doppler, Artivive
How did you come across Artivive?
Last December Gabriele Baumgartner curating the exhibition "Digitalisierung und/oder/vs Kunst: Ein Ende des analogen Schaffens?" had invited me to take part in a panel discussion that was held there. Sergiu Ardelean was on the panel. He presented the App and I was enthusiastic about its possibilities at once.
What inspired you to take part in our open call?
To understand what art is about is never easy and to grasp art not everyone's concern. Artivive contributes to reduce fears to come into contact with art. I think art education should always go beyond the factual. With AR the viewer gets the opportunity to access the artwork on a sensual-emotional level. AR has the potential to engage the viewer with more than the sense of vision.
When studying architecture I spent a semester as exchange student at ENSA Paris La Villette. During this time I often visited museums. This way I got to know the paintings of Fernand Pelez which I came to appreciate highly. These paintings have something very touching for me and I would like to share this personal emotional experience with others through the possibilities that AR offers. Moreover, I would also like to convey the high actuality of Fernand Pelez's pictures.
Which masterpiece from the collections did you choose and what was the concept behind your augmented reality extension?
I have chosen Fernand Pelez's Sans Asile. Though Pelez was a French painter of the late 19th century, he didn't conform to the typical traditions of his time. He created realistic paintings which were not approved by his contemporaries. He set his focus on painting scenes with beggars, homeless families and circus performers, snapshots of the impoverished members of society. Thus he became known as the painter of poverty, a naming which is corroborated in the use of the word misère in his titles. Clearly, by painting suffering people he opposed salon painting, the prevailing style then. It was just about ten years ago that Pelez was rediscovered and his contribution to French painting in the late 19th century brought to light.
I consider Pelez's works to be powerful and strongly connected to today's current affairs. I associated the subject of the painting of 1883 with my own work from 2018 about the refugee crisis. My intention was to provoke in the viewer a kind of personal concern and create a feeling of being involved in the claims of the painting. What does this have to do with me? How much does it affect me? When I started to set up the work on the augmented reality extension I began to develop an emotional closeness to these actually strange people in the painting and at the same time I questioned their fate and background. I also let autobiographical parts flow into the story that I wanted to tell by lifting Pelez's work out of its original context and projecting it onto my own everyday life. This way the depth of the image increased and ascertained for me some kind of timelessness which I hope a viewer will experience likewise.
What do you find most exciting about augmented reality art?
For me a very appealing feature of AR is that real world objects are not replaced but replenished in a way that a kind of coexistence between the analog and digital worlds of art is created. Formulated more philosophically, there takes place an oscillation between objective and subjective space of perception and experience leading to a new moment of heightened tension for perception. Moreover, AR provides the possibility for me to add a variety of new layers to a work of art without losing anything of its original content.
What are you working on now and what are your future plans?
"Where the Children Sleep" is a series I have started in 2018 that will be continued. In this series I deal with places where refugee children have to spend the night. Currently I am interested in the very moment of the children's arrival and my own feelings about this event.
Any advice for those who would like to use augmented reality for their art practice?
Augmented reality is much more than a modern tool of technology to enhance visual perceptions, it endows one’s own work of art with a new depth and furthers new processes of innovation.