|| 展 || 虚拟现实艺术 Q&A | 专访严思·法斯高
林冠艺术基金会 北京
虚拟现实艺术
2017年8月27日至 2018年2月3日
Q：王婧思
A：严思·法斯高
Q：本次“虚拟现实艺术”展览是由五位艺术家的五个连续分个展组成，以克里斯丁·莱默茨为始，喻红为终。选择这五位艺术家参展有何原因？这五个连续分个展之间有什么样的关联？首先推出克里斯丁·莱默茨的个展有何特殊考虑吗？
A：本次参展的五位艺术家均与科拉当代围绕虚拟现实艺术的主题进行过合作，也都曾和林冠艺术基金会有过接触。五位艺术家之间并无特殊关联，不过他们都甘愿充当虚拟现实艺术这一崭新而迅速演化的媒介的先驱者。他们将为观众带来一系列全然不同却又异彩纷呈的的作品和体验。
由于五位艺术家本身的作品并无关联性，因此展览选择按首字母顺序展现他们的作品。而克里斯丁·莱默茨的作品则刚好可以作为一个震撼有力的开场。
Q：除喻红之外，另四位艺术家的作品均在其他场合展出，克里斯丁·莱默茨和保罗·麦卡锡的作品在2017年威尼斯双年展上出现，而埃里克·帕克和托尼·奥斯勒的作品则现身于2016年9月北京中艺博国际画廊博览会（CIGE）上。此前观众对这几组作品的反应如何？它们在这一次展览中的呈现将会有何不同？
A：在此前的展出中，无论观众还是媒体对这些艺术家及其作品的评价都非常之高。当然，真正的感受只有亲身体验过后才可诉诸表达。作品一旦启动，它们以及随之带来的“新世界”将迅速使人置身于全新的境地。与之前相比，这些作品仍以常态展出，只不过这一次的关注点被100%投射在虚拟现实这一领域。作品的呈现过程、技术及设备都会不断改进，以为观者带来更好的体验。
Q：由此看来，虚拟现实（VR）和艺术与新技术的结合似乎一直被林冠艺术基金会所关注。这一次的新展将历时近五个月，无论规模和周期都体现出一定重要性。相较于之前，您希望本次展览在对虚拟现实艺术的探索上有何突破？
A：我们相信虚拟现实这一新的媒介，将是艺术创作和艺术体验在新形式探索上的一次突破，而这仅仅只是开始。新技术在迅猛发展着，没有人知道未来的可能性有多广阔。林冠艺术基金会始终致力于推进虚拟现实技术的发展和普及，并把它推向更为广阔的受众群体。
我们希望通过本次展览向更多艺术家展示和证明，单纯用虚拟现实来创造艺术作品、策划和做成一场展览，都是可能的，并且它足以抵挡传统媒介的挑战。
Q：喻红是本次展览中唯一的中国艺术家，顺序上也是最后参展。为何选择喻红？艺术家之前的创作多专注于形式更为“传统”的架上绘画、雕塑等，这一次却选择了虚拟现实技术作为载体，如何理解之间的关系与可能性？
A：我们跟喻红保持着良好的合作关系，喻红对虚拟现实这一媒介表现出浓厚的兴趣。当我们开始就这一话题进行讨论，我们发现喻红对此本身有着非常有创意、令人激动的想法。而这恰恰证明了在虚拟现实面前，每一位艺术家都拥有自我表达的机会与可能。他们或许有各自的创作背景，也正因此而创造出迥异的新体验——作为媒介的虚拟现实给艺术家带来的可能性是无限的。本次参展的艺术家，有些始终致力于探索和实验新的技术和媒介（如托尼·奥斯勒），有些在此前偏向于雕塑和绘画传统媒介的创作（如克里斯丁·莱默茨和埃里克·帕克）——艺术家的眼光和经验如何依托虚拟现实加以转化和呈现，每个人都有所不同。
Q：在托尼·奥斯勒的作品《我的朋友太空人》中，艺术家以乔治·亚当斯基作为引领观众进入作品的人物，同时掺杂了虚假记忆，并使观众得以探寻艺术家和亚当斯基延展性的档案研究。如何解释“延展性的档案研究”？这里所谓的“档案”是否是真实的？在VR模糊了真实与虚拟边界的当下，从展览或机构的角度出发，更应强调体验的真实还是事实的真实？
A：托尼·奥斯勒为他的作品做了很多研究，并且搜集了关于乔治·亚当斯基的大量档案与传说，包括图像、剪报、影像等等。根据档案记载，亚当斯基声称自己是见过并拍摄UFO和外星人的第一人。奥斯勒在建立档案的同时也带有个人的角度。因此，档案是真实的，不过问题最终在于你是否愿意去相信里面的内容。亚当斯基是真实存在的人物，当然，奥斯勒在讲述亚当斯基的故事时也或多或少掺杂了个性化的叙事——而大多数艺术家都会这么做。但更显然的是，虚拟现实是这样一种媒介，能够使人们的眼光和想法看起来更加“真实”。顺理成章地，这也进一步模糊了“幻境”与“现实”。
Q：虚拟现实技术为沉浸式体验开拓了诸多可能，同时也将一切在某种意义上变为“游戏”。在新技术新媒体艺术热潮之下，吸引观众的却常常是感官刺激与新奇体验，甚至可能人们对技术的关注大过了作品本身。这与作品或展览的初衷是否会有所偏离？更进一步，技术应该仅仅是艺术表现的手段吗，如果技术取代了原本的内涵而成为新内容，二者又该如何平衡？
A：许多人在最开始时对于新技术都抱有一些幻想和假设，可一旦进入到特定的作品中去，你就会忘记虚拟现实这个媒介，进而被它所创造的体验和你因之进入的全新世界而吞没。展览和作品都与艺术家以及他们的创作相关，这也是我们为何选择这五位艺术家进行合作，因为他们都有能力和创造力去超越技术本身的壁垒。我们希望越来越多的艺术家能够加入到这样的行列。
FAURSCHOU FOUNDATION BEIJING
VIRTUAL REALITY ART
27 AUGUST 2017 - 03 FEBRUARY 2018
Q：Wang Jingsi
A：Jens Faurschou
Q：The exhibition “Virtual Reality Art” consists of 5 consecutive “sub-exhibitions” for each participating artist, starting from Christian Lemmerz and ending at Yu Hong. Why these 5 artists are chosen to present their artworks in this exhibition? What are the connections among the 5 “sub-exhibitions”? As Christian Lemmerz will be the first artist to have his solo exhibition, are there any special reasons for such arrangement?
A：The 5 artists, are the ones Khora Contemporary – the production company helping artists to create Virtual Reality Art – has been working with, and whom Faurschou Foundation has collaborated with in the past. There is no connection between the 5 artists, other than the fact that they all have been willing to be the frontrunners in this new and fast evolving medium. The result being, five fascinating yet completely different experiences.
Because of the relatively loose connection between the 5 artists, we chose to simply show them in alphabetical order. Lemmerz’ Jesus figure is a powerful opening to the sequence.
Q：Except for Yu Hong, the other 4 artists have all had their works exhibited on other occasions. For example, Christian Lemmerz and Paul McCarthy on the 2017 Venice Biennale, while Erik Parker and Tony Oursler on CIGE in September 2016. What are the reactions and feedbacks of their works from the audience? How will the works be different in this exhibition?
A：We have had a very positive response from the audience and media. Of course, these are works you have to see for yourself, to get the full experience. But once the equipment is running, these works and this new kind of “world” blow people away. The artworks will be the same, but this time, they are exhibited in a context with 100% focus on the virtual reality. The process and technological equipment around it will constantly develop and the viewer experience will improve.
Q：It seems that virtual reality art and the combination of art and new technologies have always been a focus of Faurschou Foundation. “Virtual Reality Art” will last for 5 months, which reflects great importance either from the scale or the duration. Compared with the foundation’s former practices, what new exploration or breakthroughs do you want to achieve at this exhibition?
A：We believe that this new medium is a breakthrough to a whole new way of creating and experiencing art. And this is just the beginning. The technology evolves quickly, and who knows the possibilities we could have in the future. Faurschou Foundation is happy to support this process and help spread the knowledge and experience across a broader audience.
We hope that the scale of this exhibition will show other artists, that it is possible to create both artworks and exhibitions solely using the Virtual Reality medium, and that it can hold fort in regard to traditional mediums.
Q：As the last artist to organise her “sub-exhibition”, Yu Hong is also the only Chinese artist appeared in this exhibition. Why did you choose Yu Hong? Meanwhile, as an artist who has been mainly focus on paintings and sculptures that seem more “traditional”, Yu Hong has chosen VR as her way of expression. How do we understand the relations and possibilities in between?
A：We have had a good contact with Yu Hong for some time, and she showed great interest in the medium. Once we started to talk about the possibilities, we discovered she had some very creative and exciting ideas with Virtual Reality. This just proves, that every artist can express themselves in Virtual Reality, and bring whatever background they have to create very different experiences – there are no limits. We have artists (e.g. Tony Oursler), who are used to experimenting with new technology, and we have artists (e.g. Christian Lemmerz and Erik Parker), who work with marble and painting – it is up to each artist to see how their vision and experiences can be transferred onto Virtual Reality.
Q：In Tony Oursler’s Space Men R My Friended, the viewer is invited to follow George Adamski, drawn into a narrative of a false memory, and given the chance to explore the extended research archives of both Oursler and Adamski. How to explain or understand “the extended research archives of both Oursler and Adamski”? Is the “archives” mentioned here for real or just a fiction? In an age when VR blurs the border of fiction and reality, what is the relationship between the reality of the experience and the reality of truth, and which one is more important?
A：Tony Oursler does a huge amount of research for his artworks, and has collected a big archive about the story of UFO’s and George Adamski, with images, newspaper clips, videos etc. He also got insight into George Adamksi’s archive, which was about the UFO’s and the spacemen, he claimed he had met. So, the archives are real, but the question is whether or not you believe the content. George Adamski is a real person, but of course Oursler has taken some freedom of expression when telling his story, as many artists do in general. But of course, Virtual Reality is a medium with the possibility the make visions and ideas seem more real, and this of course blurs the lines between reality and dream.
Q：VR opens great possibilities for immersive and participatory experience. In the meantime, it has transformed everything into a “game” to some extent. However, with the growing popularity of new media, the audience is often attracted by the stimulation of the senses and the experience, rather than the artwork itself. Is it a kind of deviation from the initial purpose of the exhibition? Should technologies become the content or just a way of expression, and how to make a balance in between?
A：Of course, many have an initial fascination with the technology – but once you see these particular artworks, you forget about the medium and get swallowed up by the experience and the new world you have entered. The ideas are undoubtedly of the artist and related to their existing oeuvre. This is also why we have chosen these artists to work with – we knew they had the ideas and creativity to transcend the borders of the technology. And we hope many artists will follow.
虚拟现实艺术
2017年8月27日至 2018年2月3日
Q：王婧思
A：严思·法斯高
Q：本次“虚拟现实艺术”展览是由五位艺术家的五个连续分个展组成，以克里斯丁·莱默茨为始，喻红为终。选择这五位艺术家参展有何原因？这五个连续分个展之间有什么样的关联？首先推出克里斯丁·莱默茨的个展有何特殊考虑吗？
A：本次参展的五位艺术家均与科拉当代围绕虚拟现实艺术的主题进行过合作，也都曾和林冠艺术基金会有过接触。五位艺术家之间并无特殊关联，不过他们都甘愿充当虚拟现实艺术这一崭新而迅速演化的媒介的先驱者。他们将为观众带来一系列全然不同却又异彩纷呈的的作品和体验。
由于五位艺术家本身的作品并无关联性，因此展览选择按首字母顺序展现他们的作品。而克里斯丁·莱默茨的作品则刚好可以作为一个震撼有力的开场。
Q：除喻红之外，另四位艺术家的作品均在其他场合展出，克里斯丁·莱默茨和保罗·麦卡锡的作品在2017年威尼斯双年展上出现，而埃里克·帕克和托尼·奥斯勒的作品则现身于2016年9月北京中艺博国际画廊博览会（CIGE）上。此前观众对这几组作品的反应如何？它们在这一次展览中的呈现将会有何不同？
A：在此前的展出中，无论观众还是媒体对这些艺术家及其作品的评价都非常之高。当然，真正的感受只有亲身体验过后才可诉诸表达。作品一旦启动，它们以及随之带来的“新世界”将迅速使人置身于全新的境地。与之前相比，这些作品仍以常态展出，只不过这一次的关注点被100%投射在虚拟现实这一领域。作品的呈现过程、技术及设备都会不断改进，以为观者带来更好的体验。
Q：由此看来，虚拟现实（VR）和艺术与新技术的结合似乎一直被林冠艺术基金会所关注。这一次的新展将历时近五个月，无论规模和周期都体现出一定重要性。相较于之前，您希望本次展览在对虚拟现实艺术的探索上有何突破？
A：我们相信虚拟现实这一新的媒介，将是艺术创作和艺术体验在新形式探索上的一次突破，而这仅仅只是开始。新技术在迅猛发展着，没有人知道未来的可能性有多广阔。林冠艺术基金会始终致力于推进虚拟现实技术的发展和普及，并把它推向更为广阔的受众群体。
我们希望通过本次展览向更多艺术家展示和证明，单纯用虚拟现实来创造艺术作品、策划和做成一场展览，都是可能的，并且它足以抵挡传统媒介的挑战。
Q：喻红是本次展览中唯一的中国艺术家，顺序上也是最后参展。为何选择喻红？艺术家之前的创作多专注于形式更为“传统”的架上绘画、雕塑等，这一次却选择了虚拟现实技术作为载体，如何理解之间的关系与可能性？
A：我们跟喻红保持着良好的合作关系，喻红对虚拟现实这一媒介表现出浓厚的兴趣。当我们开始就这一话题进行讨论，我们发现喻红对此本身有着非常有创意、令人激动的想法。而这恰恰证明了在虚拟现实面前，每一位艺术家都拥有自我表达的机会与可能。他们或许有各自的创作背景，也正因此而创造出迥异的新体验——作为媒介的虚拟现实给艺术家带来的可能性是无限的。本次参展的艺术家，有些始终致力于探索和实验新的技术和媒介（如托尼·奥斯勒），有些在此前偏向于雕塑和绘画传统媒介的创作（如克里斯丁·莱默茨和埃里克·帕克）——艺术家的眼光和经验如何依托虚拟现实加以转化和呈现，每个人都有所不同。
Q：在托尼·奥斯勒的作品《我的朋友太空人》中，艺术家以乔治·亚当斯基作为引领观众进入作品的人物，同时掺杂了虚假记忆，并使观众得以探寻艺术家和亚当斯基延展性的档案研究。如何解释“延展性的档案研究”？这里所谓的“档案”是否是真实的？在VR模糊了真实与虚拟边界的当下，从展览或机构的角度出发，更应强调体验的真实还是事实的真实？
A：托尼·奥斯勒为他的作品做了很多研究，并且搜集了关于乔治·亚当斯基的大量档案与传说，包括图像、剪报、影像等等。根据档案记载，亚当斯基声称自己是见过并拍摄UFO和外星人的第一人。奥斯勒在建立档案的同时也带有个人的角度。因此，档案是真实的，不过问题最终在于你是否愿意去相信里面的内容。亚当斯基是真实存在的人物，当然，奥斯勒在讲述亚当斯基的故事时也或多或少掺杂了个性化的叙事——而大多数艺术家都会这么做。但更显然的是，虚拟现实是这样一种媒介，能够使人们的眼光和想法看起来更加“真实”。顺理成章地，这也进一步模糊了“幻境”与“现实”。
Q：虚拟现实技术为沉浸式体验开拓了诸多可能，同时也将一切在某种意义上变为“游戏”。在新技术新媒体艺术热潮之下，吸引观众的却常常是感官刺激与新奇体验，甚至可能人们对技术的关注大过了作品本身。这与作品或展览的初衷是否会有所偏离？更进一步，技术应该仅仅是艺术表现的手段吗，如果技术取代了原本的内涵而成为新内容，二者又该如何平衡？
A：许多人在最开始时对于新技术都抱有一些幻想和假设，可一旦进入到特定的作品中去，你就会忘记虚拟现实这个媒介，进而被它所创造的体验和你因之进入的全新世界而吞没。展览和作品都与艺术家以及他们的创作相关，这也是我们为何选择这五位艺术家进行合作，因为他们都有能力和创造力去超越技术本身的壁垒。我们希望越来越多的艺术家能够加入到这样的行列。
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摄影：于龙 Photo by Yu Long |
FAURSCHOU FOUNDATION BEIJING
VIRTUAL REALITY ART
27 AUGUST 2017 - 03 FEBRUARY 2018
Q：Wang Jingsi
A：Jens Faurschou
Q：The exhibition “Virtual Reality Art” consists of 5 consecutive “sub-exhibitions” for each participating artist, starting from Christian Lemmerz and ending at Yu Hong. Why these 5 artists are chosen to present their artworks in this exhibition? What are the connections among the 5 “sub-exhibitions”? As Christian Lemmerz will be the first artist to have his solo exhibition, are there any special reasons for such arrangement?
A：The 5 artists, are the ones Khora Contemporary – the production company helping artists to create Virtual Reality Art – has been working with, and whom Faurschou Foundation has collaborated with in the past. There is no connection between the 5 artists, other than the fact that they all have been willing to be the frontrunners in this new and fast evolving medium. The result being, five fascinating yet completely different experiences.
Because of the relatively loose connection between the 5 artists, we chose to simply show them in alphabetical order. Lemmerz’ Jesus figure is a powerful opening to the sequence.
Q：Except for Yu Hong, the other 4 artists have all had their works exhibited on other occasions. For example, Christian Lemmerz and Paul McCarthy on the 2017 Venice Biennale, while Erik Parker and Tony Oursler on CIGE in September 2016. What are the reactions and feedbacks of their works from the audience? How will the works be different in this exhibition?
A：We have had a very positive response from the audience and media. Of course, these are works you have to see for yourself, to get the full experience. But once the equipment is running, these works and this new kind of “world” blow people away. The artworks will be the same, but this time, they are exhibited in a context with 100% focus on the virtual reality. The process and technological equipment around it will constantly develop and the viewer experience will improve.
Q：It seems that virtual reality art and the combination of art and new technologies have always been a focus of Faurschou Foundation. “Virtual Reality Art” will last for 5 months, which reflects great importance either from the scale or the duration. Compared with the foundation’s former practices, what new exploration or breakthroughs do you want to achieve at this exhibition?
A：We believe that this new medium is a breakthrough to a whole new way of creating and experiencing art. And this is just the beginning. The technology evolves quickly, and who knows the possibilities we could have in the future. Faurschou Foundation is happy to support this process and help spread the knowledge and experience across a broader audience.
We hope that the scale of this exhibition will show other artists, that it is possible to create both artworks and exhibitions solely using the Virtual Reality medium, and that it can hold fort in regard to traditional mediums.
Q：As the last artist to organise her “sub-exhibition”, Yu Hong is also the only Chinese artist appeared in this exhibition. Why did you choose Yu Hong? Meanwhile, as an artist who has been mainly focus on paintings and sculptures that seem more “traditional”, Yu Hong has chosen VR as her way of expression. How do we understand the relations and possibilities in between?
A：We have had a good contact with Yu Hong for some time, and she showed great interest in the medium. Once we started to talk about the possibilities, we discovered she had some very creative and exciting ideas with Virtual Reality. This just proves, that every artist can express themselves in Virtual Reality, and bring whatever background they have to create very different experiences – there are no limits. We have artists (e.g. Tony Oursler), who are used to experimenting with new technology, and we have artists (e.g. Christian Lemmerz and Erik Parker), who work with marble and painting – it is up to each artist to see how their vision and experiences can be transferred onto Virtual Reality.
Q：In Tony Oursler’s Space Men R My Friended, the viewer is invited to follow George Adamski, drawn into a narrative of a false memory, and given the chance to explore the extended research archives of both Oursler and Adamski. How to explain or understand “the extended research archives of both Oursler and Adamski”? Is the “archives” mentioned here for real or just a fiction? In an age when VR blurs the border of fiction and reality, what is the relationship between the reality of the experience and the reality of truth, and which one is more important?
A：Tony Oursler does a huge amount of research for his artworks, and has collected a big archive about the story of UFO’s and George Adamski, with images, newspaper clips, videos etc. He also got insight into George Adamksi’s archive, which was about the UFO’s and the spacemen, he claimed he had met. So, the archives are real, but the question is whether or not you believe the content. George Adamski is a real person, but of course Oursler has taken some freedom of expression when telling his story, as many artists do in general. But of course, Virtual Reality is a medium with the possibility the make visions and ideas seem more real, and this of course blurs the lines between reality and dream.
Q：VR opens great possibilities for immersive and participatory experience. In the meantime, it has transformed everything into a “game” to some extent. However, with the growing popularity of new media, the audience is often attracted by the stimulation of the senses and the experience, rather than the artwork itself. Is it a kind of deviation from the initial purpose of the exhibition? Should technologies become the content or just a way of expression, and how to make a balance in between?
A：Of course, many have an initial fascination with the technology – but once you see these particular artworks, you forget about the medium and get swallowed up by the experience and the new world you have entered. The ideas are undoubtedly of the artist and related to their existing oeuvre. This is also why we have chosen these artists to work with – we knew they had the ideas and creativity to transcend the borders of the technology. And we hope many artists will follow.
