A new documentary short from sp[a]ce gallery at Ayzenberg explores the past, present an future of virtual art. In a series of interviews with some of the key players (including yours truly) in the history of XR (VR+AR+MR), sp[a]ce gallery [sic], in conjunction with a.Open Studio [sic], explores why the virtual art medium did not take hold in the 1990s but is now experiencing a renaissance. Focusing on creative innovation now occurring in tandem with advances in hardware and software, the video showcases collaborations across various disciplines and how audience interaction is being revolutionized.
Eric Ayzenberg, CEO of [ayzenberg] [sic], one of largest independently owned communication arts companies in the nation with over 100M in billings, founded sp[a]ce gallery in 2017. “I’m a strong supporter of the arts, and fan of pop-surrealist art stars such as Tim Biskup, Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Todd … I had a massive art collection … it’s more of really … a collector of artwork you see in Juxtapoz magazine,” Ayzenberg explained in an email. Most recently, sp[a]ce gallery presented its fifth exhibition, “Spatial Reality.” We wrote about it here. Their next exhibition in [when] is about robots. Ayzenberg wants to follow it with something related to the art of video games.
“Spatial Reality” was a collaboration between Ayzenberg and Britt Salvesen, curator at LACMA, who is a rising star in the art world. She had recently curated a successful 3-D show at LACMA that covered 3-D art perspective right up to virtual reality. As part of their work for companies like Microsoft and Intel, Ayzenberg makes a number of documentaries every year. With these resources at hand, Ayzenberg decided to produce a multi-part documentary series of the history of VR, with emphasis on its artistic use cases. “ The history of virtual art medium did not take hold in the 1990s but is now experiencing a renaissance. The idea for the film was to Focus on creative innovation now occurring in tandem with advances in hardware and software,” said Ayzenberg.
“We are producing 5 hours of programming focused on every aspect of VR: art, games, education, military, architecture and other industrial aspects … the who’s who for every category,” said Ayzenberg. “The idea is to sell it to Netflix and other steamers and broadcasters.”
The powerful immersion that comes from today’s XR technology is changing the way people work and create. Ayzenberg says his 5-part documentary series will pull you into the world of the engineers, designers, architects, scientists, and artists who are pioneering what can be achieved in this new platform to push their crafts forward and to change the very world we live in.
