Can you even imagine a photo exhibition with bare walls all around you? Visual artist and designer Lukas Renlund has created an exhibition that makes you explore art in quite an unordinary way – by using your smartphone. He wanted to explore the possibility of the internet and physical space converging, so he created a photo exhibition without a single photo. He creates moving images (motion photography), so he was wondering how he could display his work in a gallery. And his solution involves no single projection. I’m wondering on so many levels: how is this even possible?
Lukas’ exhibition An Exploration of Tomorrow’s Billboards proposes an alternative and a very unordinary way of perceiving art. It’s focused towards the era of information and people of this era, combining motion photography with modern technology. The exhibition, although it displays visual art, doesn’t have a single image on the wall, or a single projection. It uses spatial beacon technology and the tailor made app MoPho. The beacons are spread across the gallery and the viewers are supposed to use the app to view the piece of art – on their smart devices. My mind is so utterly confused by this concept. On one hand, I like the idea most of all because it’s really unusual. Also, I believe it took a whole lot of time and resources to design the work and create the app. It could also serve as a mockery to today’s society, to people who stare at their phones even when they are surrounded by incredible works of art. On the other hand, I sure hope this won’t become a standard of viewing artwork any time soon. Okay, I do stare at my phone a lot, I can’t deny that. But when I come to an exhibition, I want physical works of art or large projections to draw my attention and captivate me. I can stare at my phone while I’m waiting for a bus. Galleries and exhibitions are something else. What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinion on this project. [An Exploration of Tomorrow’s Billboards (MoPho) via FStoppers]
