Artist Xavier Veilhan To Debut First Virtual Reality Experience

Sculpture Park, a new virtual reality experience by Xavier Veilhan, debuts March 15 at Veilhan's solo exhibition of the same name at Perrotin Shanghai.

Renowned for his innovative and multifaceted body of work that has continuously evolved over his nearly four-decade career, Veilhan demonstrates an unwavering commitment to exploration in his practice, as exemplified by this newest venture into immersive technologies. Commissioned by VIVE Arts, the global arts and technology initiative that supports artistic experimentation with nascent technologies, and developed by award-winning production company Atlas V, the VR experience Sculpture Park is on view from March 15 to May 25, 2024.

The virtual realm of Sculpture Park is a contemplative and boundless space where Veilhan's iconic sculptures and digital creations converge. The VR experience, which includes a collaborative soundscape by renowned French DJ and musician I:Cube, invites viewers on a mesmerizing exploration of form, space, and artistic evolution. Upon entering this ethereal world, viewers will find themselves immersed in a predominantly white landscape adorned with a multitude of Veilhan's sculptures rendered in digital form. As a participant in this 6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom) experience, audiences have the freedom to gently float or soar in any direction, embarking on a self-directed odyssey of discovery. Sculpture Park will be shown on Fridays and Saturdays from 11am-7pm throughout the run of the exhibition.

Sculpture Park unfolds through a series of interconnected spaces, each with its own distinct ambiance. Titled “Island of Dogs,” “Island of Tom,” “La Cité Radieuse,” “The Light Machine,” and “The Forest,” these spaces cumulatively enable Veilhan's entire artistic journey to unfold within this digital domain, illuminated by intricate plays of light and color. The work is punctuated by moments of visual distortion and abstraction with the boundary between representation and abstraction continually blurred. Through this immersive experience, Veilhan aims to create a space where viewers can engage in a slow and contemplative exploration, akin to a dreamlike state that defies easy description. It is a means of achieving a multidimensional experience that merges the boundaries between reality and fiction, a space that exists as a subdivision of reality, escaping its confines.

Sculpture Park's sound environment is the result of a collaboration between Veilhan and I:Cube, French electronic music producer and DJ Nicolas Chaix. Rising to prominence in the electronic music scene during the 1990s, I:Cube's music is characterized by its eclectic and experimental nature and the elements of jazz, funk, and ambient music he incorporates into his electronic compositions. I:Cube's music in Sculpture Park sets the mood, enhances the atmosphere, and guides viewers through the virtual world, creating a harmonious fusion of art and sound.

VIVE Arts' commission of Xavier Veilhan's work in partnership with Perrotin advances its mission to support the entirety of the digital art ecosystem, enabling galleries as well as institutions to experiment with nascent technologies, and empowering artists to use new mediums and technologies to push their practices beyond traditional boundaries. Sculpture Park builds on VIVE Arts' wide-ranging program of commissions and institutional collaborations, with recent projects including the inaugural CripTech Metaverse Lab (2023) in partnership with arts and culture nonprofit organizations Gray Area and Leonardo as part of the 15th annual Gray Area Festival's focus on access, during which disabled creators prototyped how emerging technologies can open up new pathways for connection and inclusion; La Palette de Van Gogh at the Musée d'Orsay, an opportunity to experience a paint palette used by Vincent van Gogh through interactive and immersive virtual reality on view as part of the museum's Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise exhibition (2023); and Wu Tsang's Of Whales (2022), an installation based on the artist's exploration of Herman Melville's Moby Dick and psychedelic ocean environments generated from game engine technologies. Previous institutional partners include the Venice Biennale, Serpentine Galleries, the Triennale Milano, the Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Somerset House, and the Musée du Louvre, among many others. Contemporary visual artists with whom VIVE Arts has previously collaborated or whose work VIVE Arts has commissioned include Marco Brambilla, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Cai Guo-Qiang, Dr. Libby Heaney, Albert Oehlen, and Wu Tsang.

Xavier Veilhan said, “The VR universe I've created in Sculpture Park challenges the boundaries between 2D and 3D, while simultaneously reinforcing them. I am fascinated by the idea of a three-dimensional experience with two-dimensional elements, and playing with these visual representations forms a significant part of my artistic research. This collaboration with VIVE Arts has enabled me to synthesize and draw upon my recent architectural, musical, and video-based research and, with the use of immersive technologies, to innovate and expand my practice into a new realm of exploration.''

Celina Yeh, Executive Director of VIVE Arts, said, “We are delighted to partner with Xavier Veilhan on this innovative VR experience, the first in his storied career defined by exploration across mediums. VIVE Arts is committed to empowering visionary artists to create groundbreaking artworks and experiences through the use of new and immersive technologies that allow them to transcend traditional boundaries. Since the late 1980s, Xavier has been renowned for his innovative use of technology and his engagement with new mediums. As a multimedia artist working with sculpture, installation, and video art informed by architectural form, the natural environment, and the human body, incorporating VR into his work enables him to extend his practice even further.”

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