Unique relationship between high tech company and local artists pushes the edge of virtual reality at CAFKA Biennial Art Festival, presented by Christie
(Kitchener, Ontario, May 26, 2014) - Engineers at global visual technologies company Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc. are changing the way they think about the art of visualization, thanks to a unique partnership with CAFKA, Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener & Area (www.cafka.org), a local arts organization.
Some fruits of that partnership are on exhibit at CAFKA.14, a biennial exhibition of contemporary art in public spaces, taking place May 31-June 29, 2014, in Waterloo Region.
Artists from CAFKA first approached Christie in 2007 looking for assistance in bringing artistic visions to fruition. Christie obliged, lending state-of-the-art technology to project art onto walls and windows outside Kitchener City Hall during a contemporary art exhibition. The initiative was well received. It gave rise to an unusual artist-in-residence program, where visiting artists work with Christie technology and its engineers to merge artistic imagination with the realities of digital technology.
“Working with artists has opened up new worlds for us,” said Charles Fraresso, Senior Manager, Research & Innovation. “We pride ourselves on being an innovative company, and these artists have helped take it to a new level. They’ve enriched our understanding of the art of visualization, and how to collaborate to allow Christie technology to create the visual experiences the artist imagines.
During CAFKA.14, May 31-June 29, current CAFKA-Christie artists-in-residence Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli will exhibit their work, In Search of Abandoned, using Christie’s HIVE virtual reality room. Jesse Scott will be doing pop-up installations using Christie® MicroTiles® at Kitchener City Hall, and Dylan Reibling will project his video on to the “cube” high atop Kitchener City Hall – the cube features high brightness Christie DLP® projectors. Internationally famous projection artist Krzysztof Wodiczko will be projecting the stories of people in Kitchener onto the statue of Queen Victoria in Kitchener’s Victoria Park on the evenings of June 11, 12 and 13. Berlin artist Robert Seidel will be projecting on to fountains of water on the evening of June 21.
The biennial kicks off Sat May 31 @ 7pm at Kitchener City Hall. For details visit: www.cafka.org or follow us on Twitter: @CAFKA and #CAFKA.14.
To follow Christie technology on display during CAFKA visit www.facebook.com/christiedigital or @christiedigital
For more information, contact:
Gordon Hatt, CAFKA Executive Director, gwhatt at cafka.org, (519) 574-4176 or Karie Liao, CAFKA Artistic Director; karie at cafka.org, (647) 832-8848.
David Paolini, Media & Public Relations Manager, [email protected], mobile (519) 572-6848. www.facebook.com/christiedigital