New Exhibition Explores Decorative Arts In The Digital Age Next Month
The exhibition will be held from July 1 - 23, 2022 at The David Roche Foundation.
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 06, 2022
An exhibition entitled Doppelgänger and Zombies will present new artworks created from 3D scans of masterpieces in David Roche's 18th and 19th century collection of decorative arts objects. The exhibition will be held from July 1 - 23, 2022 at The David Roche Foundation, 241 Melbourne Street North Adelaide. Entry is free.
The works in Doppelgänger and Zombies are based on processes that critically and artistically explore and test the promises and potentials as well as the limitations and handicaps of digital technologies. Exquisite physical and digital artifacts are developed and fabricated, using 3D scanning and printing, CNC milling, 360 degrees photography, photogrammetry, digital modelling, rendering and image manipulation software, algorithms as well as augmented and virtual reality. As auctions played an important role in the assembly of David Roche's collection, a selection of digitally crafted artworks will be offered during a live auction in the gallery.
Arts, crafts, design and fabrication have shifted dramatically in the Digital Age. From New Materials, Avatars, Crypto Currencies, GANs, Metaverse, and Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs), to Lidar Scanning, Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR), and Additive Manufacturing - all are expressions of the potentials of 21st century's digital technologies and platforms. These technologies enable the creation of bespoke artifacts and explicit archetypes, parallel and alternate realities, imagining and curating other versions and interpretations of our world, arousing awe and astonishment.
The research and development behind Doppelgänger and Zombies are led by Dr. Rochus Hinkel, Associate Professor at the Melbourne School of Design and Co-Director of the Advanced Digital Design and Fabrication (ADD+F) research group at The University of Melbourne.
The work presents new ways of engaging with the original artifacts in the David Roche collection. Artworks include augmented reality Doppelgänger, which visitors can take home and view on their handheld devices within their private interiors - an offer that makes precious artworks available to everyone. Other pieces are based on digital crafting and the fabrication of physical pieces that are manipulated to play with a viewer's perception and unravel new identities. The reanimation of historic artifacts relates to the idea of the zombie, understood as a fictional character that is part dead and part alive. Algorithms respond to sound compositions and animated point cloud spheres that unfold over time, allowing for new perspectives and stories related to the master pieces held in the David Roche collection. Limited editions are created as copies at 1:12. This is the scale of the 18th to 19th Century dollhouse, which shares the same historical period as many of the objects in the collection.
Doppelgänger and Zombies presents a collection of physical and digital artworks that are surprisingly playful, highly crafted, and based on the application of cutting-edge digital technologies for their fabrication and creation. Concepts and meanings are developed through an investigative and associative approach, using storytelling and a layering of ideas to enrich the works and help develop their meanings. Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) place the works in the emerging world of block-chain secured digital originals.
As auctions played an important role in the assembly of David Roche's collection, a selection of digitally crafted artworks will be offered during a live auction in the gallery. The modes of collecting and the modalities of auctions have shifted in the Metaverse, physical collectibles will be available in the gallery while digital artworks will be available as NFTs on the world's first and largest NFT marketplace: OpenSea.io. A limited edition of physical and digital collectables, including NFTs, that will be auctioned onsite and online.
The David Roche Foundation was established in 1999 by the late Mr David J Roche AM (1930-2013) to be the recipient and custodian of the exceptional collection of antiques, paintings and objets d'art accumulated by him over his lifetime and to be preserved for future generations.
A devoted collector of antiques and fine art, David was acknowledged both in Australia and abroad as a renowned collector. His entire life was spent acquiring mostly what he thought essential and all items were acquired with a place in mind. From toys, money boxes and naïve items to the finest of porcelains, paintings and furnishing items - he loved them all. It was his heartfelt wish to gift his collection to the people of Australia with a hope that visitors would leave having found a favourite piece to remember. The collection that David Roche amassed is one of the finest of its type, certainly in Australia, if not in the world.
Associate Professor Rochus Urban Hinkel's research explores innovative artistic expressions for design practice and heritage, storytelling and modes of collaboration. His creative work has recently been exhibited at Ars Electronica, The Grainger Museum, and now at The David Roche Foundation. He is the recipient of inaugural The UniSA, SIDA and David Roche Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship and co-director of the Advanced Digital Design + Fabrication research hub. Together with Dr. Peter Raisbeck he co-convenes the Politics and Utopia in Architecture conversation series, presented at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Design Week, and Aalto University in Helsinki. Rochus holds a PhD by Creative Works and has taught architecture, interior design, furniture design and industrial design in various positions, including as Professor of Artistic Design at OTH Regensburg, Germany, and as Professor of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design, Stockholm.
Doppelgänger and Zombies is funded through the SIDA Foundation, UniSA and The David Roche Foundation Research Fellowship in Interior Design and Decoration and the second exhibition of the two year Fellowship (2020-2022). The exhibition is accompanied by artist tours and artist talks, including presentations on the development, processes and making of the artworks.
A limited edition of physical and digital collectables, including NFTs, will be auctioned onsite and online.
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 4:00pm
Entry is free.
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