Augmented reality from Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. The festival for invisible art
Together with Virtuale Swizerland, Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover e.V. has developed the digitally based cyberspace project iJacking, which subtly and poetically intertwines with and in Hannover’s urban space, primarily using the user’s own smartphone or tablet, and allows unimagined spaces of possibility to be experienced.
iJacking is an AR pilot project that first appeared in the city centre for two weeks on 16 August 2018 as part of the transformation of the Kröpcke Clock into an AR information sculpture. From the end of August 2018, iJacking will have a full presence in the city centre with 15 international and Lower Saxony AR positions, 6 of which are premiere events. Another part of the project includes Taiwanese video projections at the Kesselhaus and works in the Kunsthalle Faust.
iJacking initially refers to the intentional or unintentional use of external electronic data. In addition to native Asian, Australian, North American and European artists in the field of augmented reality, the curatorial team is also giving artists from Lower Saxony the opportunity to participate. A selection of their works will be processed for rendering in 3D and a subsequent virtual presentation as an AR project (‘boot-strapping’) and integrated into the exhibition concept.
On the other hand, the title iJacking refers to the use of public, urban or private areas and spaces that seem suitable for a correspondence between imaginary artwork and real place. Starting from the centrally located Kröpcke-Platz, iJacking opens up 4 AR tours in all directions, with supporting exhibition centres in Hanover at the end of each tour. The Kestnergesellschaft, the Sprengel Museum Hannover and the Städtische Galerie Kubus, for example, host the respective AR projects on site. The QR codes on the panels attached to the entrance windows provide access to the overall programme as well as making the respective artwork visible on site.
On the other hand, the title iJacking refers to the use of public, urban or private areas and spaces that seem suitable for a correspondence between imaginary artwork and real place. Starting from the centrally located Kröpcke-Platz, iJacking opens up 4 AR tours in all directions, with supporting exhibition centres in Hanover at the end of each tour. The Kestnergesellschaft, the Sprengel Museum Hannover and the Städtische Galerie Kubus, for example, host the respective AR projects on site. The QR codes on the panels attached to the entrance windows provide access to the overall programme as well as making the respective artwork visible on site.
Guided by the iJacking QR code, general information on the four AR tours with their respective artworks as well as instructions can be accessed on the website www.virtuale-switzerland.org. A promotional folder will also be published to inform visitors about the project and the technical handling, as well as a city map with the route stations for all virtual events. The regular tours from Kröpcke will be accompanied by a drinks service using a cargo bike, the ‘FahrBar Art Bar’. VIP tours can be booked via the blog ijacking.blogspot.com. The blog provides additional background information on the overall concept and connects artists from Taiwan, China, Japan, Australia, Switzerland and Germany.
Follow-up projects are planned for the Mediations Biennale Poznan 2018, the Virtuale Swizerland and the OSMOSIS Audiovisual Media Festival, Taipei, Taiwan.
AR trail through Hanover city centre
On an extensive course through Hanover’s city centre, visitors can explore various aspects of rededication, appropriation and reoccupation, guided or independently via WiFi, QR code and/or a transfer programme (browser or app). For example, you can stand virtually in front of the New Town Hall at Mao’s tomb or let Japanese lanterns rise in Georgstraße. The central point of contact for information, AR tours and the opening event is the Kröpcke. The virtual work at Kröpcke creates a swarm of codfish around the viewer, which moves upwards in a spiral towards the sky. The swarm is a homage to the reverence for life and at the same time a farewell vision of this species that has nourished us so well.
Kesselhaus Linden
In their works, four Taiwanese artists deal with urban structures and processes in different, predominantly abstract ways. The often ambiguous, unreadable origin of the image sequences contradicts the striking forms of presentation familiar from the advertising industry, here on the supposed wall surfaces or window fronts of the Kesselhaus. The rear projections from the boiler house as indefinable, abstract advertising panels thus form an equally irritating and fascinating antithesis to the AR course with its concrete spaces of possibility.
Faust Art Gallery
The end point of the project is the exhibition hall on the Faust site. It offers a drinks service on the opening evening. Works by Daniel Lergon, Julie Oppermann, Liu Guangyun and Ya-Wen Fu will also be on display.
The large-format selection of works by Berlin painter Daniel Lergon refers in many ways to the theme of the iJacking project. The vowel i can also be understood as ‘eye’ in English, and thus the organisers of the project are also concerned with the sensually understood ‘abduction of the eye’ in relation to the viewer. Lergon’s gesturally powerful use of paint creates irritatingly iridescent colour spaces or volumes on retroreflective fabric for the viewer by changing position, depending on their point of view.
The Berlin-based American Julie Oppermann also irritates the eye with a large-format, multi-layered painted line structure, the overlapping of which creates interference-like effects that are otherwise more likely to be found in the digital world.
In Ya-Wen Fu’s video work, the artist herself appears as a performer wearing a mask. Her body language is designed to explore the surrounding space as if she were entering an alien continuum.
Liu Gaungyun’s video work ‘Filling space – 50,000 perls’ shows a factory workforce in blue overalls in a row facing the viewer. In a short sequence, countless pearls fall vertically from a height above them. In China, the pearl is considered a lucky charm and could be understood here as a commentary on the promise of prosperity to the Chinese population.
In the run-up to the overall project, several AR projects can be discovered at Kröpcke. The Kröpcke clock will become an independent art object and information carrier.
Participating artists:
AR-Parcours:
Warren Armstrong (Australia), Andrew Burell (Australia), Chun-Han Chiang (Taiwan), Arthur Clay & The Curiously Minded (INT), Regina Frank (Germany), Ya-Wen Fu (Taiwan), Franziska Furter (Switzerland), Jake Hempson (Australia), Hui-Hsuan Hsu (Taiwan), Ingo Lie (Germany), Lily & Honglei (China), Will Pappenheimer (USA), Yasuyuki Saegusa (Japan), Harro Schmidt (Germany), Studer/van den Berg (Switzerland) and Timm Ulrichs (Germany)
Kesselhaus Linden and Kunsthalle Faust (Vertical Cinema – video projections):
Chun-Han Chiang, Ya-Wen Fu, Hui-Hsuan Hsu and KO Hung-Yu (Taiwan)
Kunsthalle Faust:
Ya-Wen Fu (Taiwan), Liu Guangyun (China), Daniel Lergon and Julie Oppermann (Germany)
Kröpcke-Uhr: Special preview tour in co-operation with Kulturraum Region.
Exhibition duration:
Friday, 31 August, until Sunday, 30 September 2018
Inauguration of the Kröpcke Clock and the Special Teaser Tour: Thursday, 16 August, 5 pm
Vernissage:
Thursday, 30 August, 5 p.m.
5 p.m.
Reception at Kröpcke with FahrBar ArtBar drinks service, followed by AR performance with Regina Frank
6 pm
Guided tours ‘AR-Walk of Fame’ by artists of the iJACKING project
Meeting point Kröpcke-Platz – tours to the Sprengel Museum
7 pm
Bus transfer from the Sprengel Museum to the Kunsthalle Faust
7:30 pm
iJacking reception with Parcours and Vertical Cinema artists, FahrBar ArtBar drinks service
Kesselhaus Linden & Kunsthalle Faust
Opening hours Kunsthalle Faust:
Sat and Sun 4-8 pm (and by appointment, tel. 0511 / 213 48 60)
Admission: 3 euros, reduced: 2 euros
Opening hours Kesselhaus Linden:
Sat and Sun 8pm-10pm
Free admission
AR tours / Hanover city centre from Kröpcke
Thu, Sat and Sun 4 pm standard tour, 45 min., fee 5 euros
Thu, Sat and Sun 6 pm VIP tour, 60 min, fee incl. refreshments 10 euros
Online registration
Special opening hours during the Zinnober-Kunstvolkslauf:
Vertical Cinema – Strange Continuum
Saturday, 1 September: 11am-6pm Kunsthalle Faust, 6pm-2pm Kesselhaus Linden
Sunday, 2 September: 11 am – 6 pm Kunsthalle Faust, 6 pm – 2 pm Kesselhaus Linden
Free admission
Curators: Arthur Clay (Basel), Wei Ming Ho & Wen-Chi Wang (Taipei) and Harro Schmidt (Hanover)
Presented by Virtuale Switzerland in co-operation with Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover e.V.
With the kind support of:
