Augmented Reality Exhibition SEEING THE INVISIBLE to Premiere at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

The most ambitious and expansive exhibition of contemporary artworks created with augmented reality (AR) technology will premiere simultaneously in September 2021, in 12 gardens around the world, including Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

Seeing the Invisible features works by more than a dozen International Artists such as Ai Weiwei, Refik Anadol, El Anatsui, Isaac Julien CBE, Mohammed Kazem, Sigalit Landau, Sarah Meyohas, Pamela Rosenkranz and Timur Si-Qin-including several artists' first work in AR.

Free for visitors to Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Seeing the Invisible will allow attendees to engage via an app designed for the exhibition that is downloadable to smartphones and tablets.

Developed during the pandemic, Seeing the Invisible was initiated by the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens and Outset Contemporary Art Fund and is co-curated by Hadas Maor and Tal Michael Haring. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria was the only organisation in Australia invited to participate.

"We are thrilled to partner with these prestigious international gardens to offer Melbourne another world-class, outdoor event, set to be an unmissable experience this spring," says Tim Entwisle, Director & Chief Executive, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. "The free exhibition is sure to drive Victorians and interstate tourists to Melbourne's CBD and showcase the beauty of our Gardens in an entirely new way."

Seeing the Invisible will simultaneously premiere at:

· Denver Botanic Gardens (Denver, Colorado, USA)

· Eden Project (Cornwall, England)

· Jerusalem Botanical Gardens (Jerusalem, Israel)

· Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (Cape Town, South Africa)

· Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota, Florida, USA)

· Massachusetts Horticultural Society (Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA)

· Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario, Canada)

· Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (Edinburgh, Scotland)

· Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Cranbourne Gardens (Cranbourne, Australia)

· Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne Gardens (Melbourne, Australia)

· San Diego Botanic Garden (San Diego, California, USA)

· Tucson Botanical Gardens (Tucson, Arizona, USA)

Seeing the Invisible will place the same exhibition of commissioned artworks in analogous sites in 12 outdoor garden settings located in different biomes around the world, creating parallels and contrasts between them. For example, the same work might be set within a group of tall Saguaro cacti in Tucson, among a lush forest of giant redwoods in Edinburgh and among the Eucalypts at Melbourne Gardens. The AR nature of the exhibition allows for the creation of expansive, immersive works that engage with existing features of the natural landscape beyond the limitations of what is possible with physical artworks. Many of the works created for the exhibition will address related themes around nature, environment, sustainability, and explore the interplay of the physical world with the digital one.

"Coming out of the pandemic when outdoor experiences and nature have taken on a new meaning and gravity in our lives, this exhibition represents a fresh way for people to engage with art and nature simultaneously," added Seeing the Invisible Co-Curator Tal Michael Haring. "The interplay of these augmented reality works in vibrant natural settings breaks down the binary between what is often considered 'natural' versus 'digital', and in this way provides an exhibition experience that is much more connected to the way we live today."

"Seeing the Invisible was born out of a collaboration during the pandemic with the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens that opened our eyes to the incredible opportunities for creating an entirely new kind of contemporary art experience within the setting of a botanical garden," said Outset Contemporary Art Fund Co-Founder Candida Gertler OBE and Outset Contemporary Art Fund Israel Director Mirav Katri. "We are thrilled to be partnering with exceptional gardens from all across the world on this exhibition bridging the physical and digital worlds to create a new 'phygital' model, bringing their expert knowledge of their field together with the most cutting-edge technology in contemporary art to develop a new exhibition format beyond the typical museum or gallery space."

To post a comment, you must register and login.