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Digital Icons (2018) is a generative and interactive virtual-reality installation that is deployed on the ground as a giant light carpet. It comprises various scenes, which change every ten minutes and act as symbolic pictograms of the digital world: on/off, command, file, email, at sign, internet, WiFi, smartphone, cloud computing, and so on.
The brightly colored patterns and icons recall the beginnings of the computer era. They appear, disappear and morph to create a universe that shifts in reaction to the visitors’ movements, detected by sensors. Icons entangle or move apart under their feet. The interaction generates an oscillating surface ranging from rigorous alignments to more chaotic forms. Like a giant kaleidoscope, this world of color, shape and movement transports us into the digital world.
Software: Claude Micheli and Antoine Villeret.
Technical production: Voxels Productions.
A pioneer of virtual and digital art, Miguel Chevalier has focused exclusively on computers as an artistic means of expression since 1978. His practice is experimental and multidisciplinary, and often reimagines the history of art through digital tools. His works investigate and explore recurrent themes such as nature and artifice, flows and networks, virtual cities and ornate designs. His digital pieces are in constant metamorphosis, plunging us into a magical, poetic and very contemporary universe.
Chevalier’s wide-ranging artistic vision has been shaped by a broad education and extensive travel. He was born in 1959 in Mexico City but has lived in Paris since 1985. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris in 1980 and went on to study at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Chevalier was awarded the Lavoisier Scholarship and then studied at the Pratt Institute, New York. In 1994, he became an artist in residence at the Kujoyama Villa, Kyoto, Japan. Since then, he has exhibited around the world.
Miguel Chevalier: Digital Icons, photo by Paperlyte, installation view at Dallas City Hall
MIGUEL CHEVALIER:
Digital Icons
Generative and Interactive
Virtual Reality Installation
Digital Icons (2018) is a generative and interactive virtual-reality installation that is deployed on the ground as a giant light carpet. It comprises various scenes, which change every ten minutes and act as symbolic pictograms of the digital world: on/off, command, file, email, at sign, internet, WiFi, smartphone, cloud computing, and so on.
The brightly colored patterns and icons recall the beginnings of the computer era. They appear, disappear and morph to create a universe that shifts in reaction to the visitors’ movements, detected by sensors. Icons entangle or move apart under their feet. The interaction generates an oscillating surface ranging from rigorous alignments to more chaotic forms. Like a giant kaleidoscope, this world of color, shape and movement transports us into the digital world.
Software: Claude Micheli and Antoine Villeret.
Technical production: Voxels Productions.
Bio
A pioneer of virtual and digital art, Miguel Chevalier has focused exclusively on computers as an artistic means of expression since 1978. His practice is experimental and multidisciplinary, and often reimagines the history of art through digital tools. His works investigate and explore recurrent themes such as nature and artifice, flows and networks, virtual cities and ornate designs. His digital pieces are in constant metamorphosis, plunging us into a magical, poetic and very contemporary universe.
Chevalier’s wide-ranging artistic vision has been shaped by a broad education and extensive travel. He was born in 1959 in Mexico City but has lived in Paris since 1985. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris in 1980 and went on to study at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Chevalier was awarded the Lavoisier Scholarship and then studied at the Pratt Institute, New York. In 1994, he became an artist in residence at the Kujoyama Villa, Kyoto, Japan. Since then, he has exhibited around the world.