Hyperessay Keywork Selection : Fluid Structure 360

What made Vincent Houze the way it is today, goes a long way back since 1920s.

Vincent Houze

In 1920s, a guy named Marcel Duchamp whom in an act of rebellion, submitted a ‘fountain’ as the urinal in an art gallery[1] to prove a point to his fellow cubist member about his perspective of art, that “art can be anything”. Interestingly, even though his artwork is thrown away and rejected, it created a rather impactful change in the art world, inspiring future generations of artist to develop art with complete freedom, and it is termed as conceptual art. Conceptual art challenge the traditional meaning and practice of art, and that art is also brought to the masses instead of only allowing the elitlist to enjoy. Shortly after the submission of the conceptual piece, ‘Fountain’, that act had inspired a group of artist, who define themselves as the Fluxus Movement[2]. Nam June Paik, the father of video art was too part of the movement, whom also focus heavily on bringing art to the masses. This is where we can see  the relevancy of interactive art artist, such as Vincent Houze, created such works of today, whom art piece is cater for the public to interact, where the public is also a part of creating the artwork through the interaction with the art piece itself, plus it is a total diversion away from traditional art practices.

Who is Vincent Houze and what does he do?

Vincent Houzé is born in Paris[3]. He create interactive art through the use of computer graphics that includes performances, and large-scale multimedia installations. In his works, you can see the complexity of it, yet is highly immersive and as if draws people into another world, making one feel they exist in another dimension when experience the space and the installation itself. He strives to engage with the audience emotion, through careful creation of the space, spatial quality that surrounds the artwork, the graphics, texture of the graphics, etc.

Selected Artwork

His artwork 360 Fluid Structure, an extension of the 2D Fluid structure, is a mesmerising form of interactive art.

Fluid Structure 360 is a new format of the Fluid Structure artwork with continuous content and interaction on a canvas that wraps around the audience.

It is an immersive interactive installation which explores how an ephemeral and amorphous shape reacts under various stimuli, internal and external. Forces and collisions bend the shape until it breaks, recombining it into new aggregates.

Its immersive quality also comes from the smooth and realistic render of the water/fluid, allowing the audience to feel themselves submerge in a pool of liquid. In addition, the melancholic quality of the soundtrack and the darkness, adds on to the whole immersive experience of viewing the work. In many of his other works such as Creatures (attached below), is another attempt in bringing the audience to experience another world. It is quite similar to the VR concept where immersion is key as part of interactive art, for example the Aspen Movie Map. The notion of trying to make a hyperrealistic environment will indefinitely heighten the standard of immersive experience.

 

 

Next, the interactivity comes from how the reaction of the fluid upon the sensor detecting a human presence. Upon detection, the fluid deconstruct itself, and throws itself into another lump of liquid to form a new organic form.

There is an endless creation of the art itself, as collaboration and interactivity this is required in interactive art. The audience get to be the artist, rather than just being an audience. The medium in which the audience create their art, is the art piece that the artist create him/herself, similar to Nam Jun Piak intention of creating the magnet TV. There is no end, and almost such a diverse of possibilities in creating different forms just by exploring allow the sensors to trigger the graphics.

Magnet TV – Nam Jun Piak

Another similar and relevant example of Fluid Structure is John Cage Variation V, where sensors are being triggered upon movement of the dancer, and changing the outcome of the artwork.  Although their visual effects differs, they are both similar to getting feedback from the machine/art , to allow further manipulation of the graphic from the user.

The idea of entropy also ties in to the concept of interaction, and builds on developing a more immersive experience as well. The audience has little to no knowledge what this installation does and the characteristic. Similar to Nam June Paik magnet TV[5], the interaction caused a certain outcome from the artwork, it is highly unpredictable, yet that prompts the user to find out more. Upon each attempt in interacting with the artwork, the audience gain more knowledge, and have better control over the TV, which that also signify the reduction of entropy. Soon, there will a level of understanding how the artwork operates.

As such, as it can be seen how this artist brings in the concept of hypermedia, immersion and interactivity. It also holds similarities with the artist in the past, such as Nam June Piak and John Cage, that is what made New Media art, and traditional art so different.

 

References 

  1. Marcel Duchamp Overview and Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/artist-duchamp-marcel.htm
  2. Fluxus Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theartstory.org/movement-fluxus.htm
  3. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://vincenthouze.com/
  4. Media Art Net. (2018, November 11). Media Art Net | Paik, Nam June: Magnet TV. Retrieved from http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/magnet-tv/
  5. Nam June Paik: The Artist Who Invented Video Art. (2013, August 22). Retrieved from https://www.arts.gov/photos/nam-june-paik-artist-who-invented-video-art