Historically art has been viewed as objects that hung on a wall or stood on a pedestal. But with the 1950s advent of Happenings and the 1990s Relational Aesthetics, the viewer became part of the artwork. In recent years, there's been a surge of ‘immersive’ or ‘experiential’ venues, featuring pieces that occupy entire rooms. A lot of this new development is frankly, crap - really bad selfie backdrops, sometimes exploiting the work of artists whose IP lies in the public domain.
That said, this new terrain intrigues me, partly because much great work is to be found. Just to be clear: An immersive work can be entirely analog, like a James Turrell ‘Ganzfeld.’ But a lot of it involves the digital, which has fascinated me since I was coding in 7th grade, using punch cards. And after Art Basel, where the predominant mediums present were paintings and sculpture, it's been enriching to be involved with so many projects that are purely immersive and/or digital. Just as importantly, I am convinced that Immersive/Experiential will be an artworld on-ramp for future generations.
