Digital Art: A New Section Curated by Venus Lau for Frieze Viewing Room Los Angeles
The new Digital Art section on Frieze Viewing Room shines a light on artists that have been working on the digital space for much of their careers and asks: what is digital? And how does digital change art?
The new Digital Art section on Frieze Viewing Room shines a light on artists that have been working on the digital space for much of their careers and asks: what is digital? And how does digital change art?
Curated by Venus Lau (Independent Curator and Writer), the section presents five commissions by artists Liu Chuang, Nik Kosmas, Peng Ke, aaajiao and Lu Yang, the works will also be available to purchase as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The presentation will reflect recent developments in this sphere, and is intended to explore how NFTs could be a useful tool for artists, directly connecting the work they make with the market in digital space.
‘Digital and virtual existence is more than what appears on a screen, it is no longer opposed to the real, instead it is a part of, or an anamorphosis, of reality. Artists aaajiao, Nik Kosmas, Liu Chuang, Lu Yang and Peng Ke rethink the mechanisms of digital existence in the artworks presented in the digital section of Frieze Los Angeles 2021’ - Venus Lau, Digital Art section curator
Frieze Viewing Room will employ OTOY’s pioneering technologies to mint the NFTs on the RNDR network where information about the work will be registered in a blockchain database and verified using RNDR’s authentication technology. RNDR leverages Layer 2 technology to reduce carbon emissions.
aaajiao
Media artist, blogger, activist and programmer, aaajiao (b. 1984 in Xi’an, China) is a Shanghai and Berlin-based artist who rethinks the Internet phenomenon through dystopian awareness and literati spirits. aaajiao’s commission on Frieze Viewing Room uses performance and shaman rituals to resist the algorithm. His most recent projects encompass various disciplines (architecture, topography, and design) to capture the pulse of the younger generation consuming cyber technology and living in social media.
Liu Chuang
For Frieze Viewing Room, artist Liu Chuang (b. 1978 in Hubei, China) proposes a field-recording of the noises of bitcoin-mining sites in China. Chuang’s work traces the social, cultural and economic transformations of contemporary China. Through video, sculpture, found objects and installation, Chuang weaves narratives that connect micro and macro, past and present, fiction and reality to reveal how the dramatic yet intricate changes in nature, society and technology affect individuals and their engagement with the world.
Lu Yang
Lu Yang (b. Shanghai, China) combines manga, anime and game aesthetics to generate a virtual alter-ego that transcends gender and death. Mortality, androgyny, hysteria, existentialism and spiritual neurology feed Lu’s jarring and at times morbid fantasies. Taking inspiration and resources from Anime, gaming and Sci-fi subcultures, Lu explores their fantasies through CGI, immersive video game installations, live performances, VR and computer programming. Lu has collaborated with scientists, psychologists, performers, designers, musicians, robotics labs, and celebrities throughout their practice.
Nik Kosmas
Shanghai-based artist Nik Kosmas (b. 1985 in Minneapolis, USA), formerly one of the post-internet duo AIDS-3D, fluidly moves between mediums, from sculpture to NFTs to create physical, emotional and spiritual journeys through technology and human experience. His work departs from science fiction, sport, science, sexuality and psychology.
Peng Ke
Photography and urban experience are at the heart of Peng Ke’s (b. 1992 in Changsha, China) practice. Her work represents the process of modernisation and the unintended aesthetic of urban contemporary China by focusing on the liminal spaces within the Chinese cityscape. From artificial lights, decorative grates, fences and blocks of concrete, Peng searches for a sense of order and intimacy in the public space where the relationship between subject and object intertwine.
Viewing Room Opening Times
Tuesday Preview, July 27, 8am PST – Invitation only
Wednesday Preview, July 28, 8am PST – Invitation & Frieze members only
Thursday, July 29, 8am PST - Sunday, August 1, midnight PST – Free access to all
Main image: Liu Chuang, Bitcoin Mining and Field Recordings of Ethnic Minorities, 2018, 3 Channel Videos, color, 5.1 sound, 40’. Courtesy of the artist and Antenna Space.Commissioned for Cosmopolis #1.5: Enlarged Intelligence with the support of Mao Jihong Arts Foundation
