2024. Single channel video with stereo audio
Duration: 8:15
Technique: Custom software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Latent Diffusion Models, Fluid Simulation
Editions: 5+1AP
Collections: Vanhaerents Collection
There are three options for presenting the work:
1. 4x9m LED Panels, as presented at the Venice Biennale in 2024.
2. 1:2 aspect ratio LED panels, variable dimensions: 1x2m, 1.5x3m, 2x4m, 2.5x5m, 3x6m
3. 9:16 Screen, variable dimensions: 75″-85″ Screen in portrait
(Installation visualisation at Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione, Venice, as part of Venice Biennale 2024. Church 3D Scan by Scanlab Projects)
Boundaries is a monumental, contemplative artwork that explores the illusory nature of separation — between the self and other, body and environment, matter and mind. The work reflects on the deep interconnectedness of everything in the cosmos, from the microbial networks within our bodies to our atoms forged in dying ancient stars, to ripples in cosmic quantum fields. Boundaries are fictions. They are interfaces. We are not apart from the universe, we are not even in the universe. We are part of the universe. The universe is in us. Just as ‘waves’ are something that the ocean does, ‘we’ are something that the universe does. The piece is ultimately a celebration of life, of being alive, of being aware of being alive, and being aware of being aware. How is it that sub-atomic waves dancing in cosmic quantum fields can feel? Can think? Can be aware of itself feeling and thinking? Created using custom code, artificial intelligence, computer vision, digital painting, and dance, the work blends computational media with embodied expression, aiming to induce a contemplative, intimate experience, encouraging us to reflect on these themes.
Also see my more resent recent work SUPERRADIANCE.
A collaboration with Katie Peyton Hofstadter, with music composed by Rutger Zuydervelt.
Commissioned by the Vanhaerents Art Collection for the Venice Biennale 2024, curated by Walter Vanhaerents with support from Dominique Moulon.
Boundaries was commissioned as part of the 2024 Venice Art Biennale for the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione Church in Venice. It was exhibited as a 30 ft tall, 13 ft wide LED screen installation, exhibited throughout the biennale from April to November 2024, and visited by over 90,000 visitors.
The work was commissioned by, and later acquired by, the Vanhaerents Art Collection, a major collection focusing on contemporary art. The collection includes artists such as Ai Weiwei, Andrea Fraser, Andy Warhol, Antony Gormley, Barbara Kruger, Bill Viola, Doug Aitken, Gilbert and George, James Lee Byars, Jenny Holzer, Mariko Mori, Paul McCarthy, Steve McQueen, Takashi Murakami, Yinka Shonibare, and more.
The work was also exhibited at the historic old train station in Seoul, South Korea in November 2024, as the showpiece for the UnfoldX New Media Art festival, and will be shown at the File Festival in Sao Paulo and Rio, Brazil July-September 2025.
More information, images and video coming soon.
Links
- https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18006733097358095/
- https://vanhaerentsartcollection.com/biennale-arte-2024-venice-memo-akten-boundaries/
- https://whitewall.art/art/best-of-venice-exhibitions-pierre-huyghe-memo-akten-zeng-fanzhi-and-more
- https://www.spherelife.com/culture/venice-biennale-2024-insider-guide
Excerpt (Duration 2:25)
(Installation visualisation at Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione, Venice, as part of Venice Biennale 2024. Church 3D Scan by Scanlab Projects)
Images (Installation visualisation)
