Two Artists Ask, is Virtual Reality Becoming “A Nightmare You Can’t Wake Up From?”
Before virtual reality and augmented reality were common, way back in the 50s and 60s, West Coast artist Stan VanDerBeek was breaking ground in immersive experiences with expanded cinema, video, and computer art. His Movie-Drome, with its multiple projections on the inside of a dome, took the idea of cinema and made it into a 360-degree experience of immersive audio and visuals. In a new exhibition at Sprüth Magers Los Angeles, VanDerBeek (who passed away in 1984) is paired with artist Jon Rafman, a modern maker of immersive, expanded realities.
Rafman finds shades of this nightmare in our everyday reality. Some might experience it as constant psychological suffering, while others might experience it as a political ideology from which there seems no escape.
Jon Rafman / Stan VanDerBeek runs through March 4 at Sprüth Magers Los Angeles.