Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art
Slide Nr 1Art should always harbour the possibility of changing the worldview of those who encounter it – even if only in a small way. Today, thanks to museum event culture, technological advances and a proliferation of art venues both traditional and innovative all over the world, we can experience art almost anywhere we go. Make 2019 the year you discover a whole new world of art. [Photo: Mori Building Digital Art Museum]
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 2When the Mori Building Digital Art Museum opened in 2018, even the idea of it pushed the boundaries of what we mean when we talk about a museum. Terms like “digital art”, “immersive experience” and “boundary-breaking” are bounced around a lot, but every single one applies to the unique worlds created by projectors and sensors, animations and illuminations. Visitors wander through this dreamscape which, for want of a better word, we shall continue to call a museum – one we recommend you visit to expand your idea of what art can be.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 5You don’t have to look to future technologies or giant installations to challenge your perception of art. Sometimes it’s enough to simply take a small step outside the art establishment. A visit to the Outsider Art Fair (in New York or Paris) or one of the few museums dedicated to the genre (for example in Amsterdam or Chicago) can be a real eye-opener. Explore works by people who had no formal training at the time they created their art, and usually no conception of themselves as artists.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 6Another rather fabulous way to turn conventional ideas of art, and the subject matter worthy of being addressed by fine art, upside down is to embrace Camp. With “Camp: Notes on Fashion” as the Met Costume Institute’s spring 2019 exhibition, the idea is sure to be on everyone’s lips. The exhibition takes its name from “Notes on ‘Camp‘”, in which Susan Sontag describes “the essence of Camp […] its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.” Read the full essay, dress for the occasion to get into the spirit, head down to the Met for a full dose of camp fashion, then seek out other camp works of art in the museum. [Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo © Johnny Dufort, 2018]
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 7In Chicago, “Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change” does what it says on the tin. The exhibition explores the history of Hull House, a social settlement designed to educate immigrants on many aspects of their new life in America, including the arts. The accompanying programme includes workshops covering skills much like those learned by those immigrants over 100 years ago, like pottery, bookbinding and acting.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 8You know how your foreign language skills improve drastically once you’ve had a few glasses of vino, bière or Schnaps? Well, what if the same principle applied to artistic endeavours? After all, many of the world’s greatest artists got their creative juices flowing with liquid inspiration – and if it’s good enough for Vincent van Gogh, Francis Bacon and Jackson Pollock… As long as you practice a bit more moderation than they did, a Drink and Draw session may just loosen up your drawing arm enough for a creative breakthrough. The trend started in London, but has spread around the world, so find one near you to get tipsy and artsy.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 9In our current times of political upheaval, even a relatively staid tradition like the annual celebration of the European Capitals of Culture can become a subversive act. The 2019 co-capitals, Matera in Italy and Plovdiv in Bulgaria, are gearing up for a year where a lot more than the cultural identity of a united Europe is at stake.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 10A new museum in Switzerland offers the opportunity of a true arts pilgrimage, both in a literal and figurative sense. The opening of Muzeum Susch rang in the new year, with an inaugural exhibition titled “A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women”. It is located on the site of a former medieval monastery on the Camino the Santiago pilgrimage route between Lake Lucerne and Davos, so you can hike to art through imposing natural beauty. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 11Has art ever moved you to tears? If not, you can experience that sensation at the Tate Modern, albeit in a slightly unconventional way. Until 24 February, the museum’s cavernous Turbine Hall hosts an exhibition of site-specific works by Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera. One part consists of a room filled with an organic compound that induces tears. The artist describes the result as “forced empathy” with the subjects of the exhibition – migrants, both those who have left their homes in the past year and those who have died trying. [Photos © Benedict Johnson]
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 12Burning Man is one of those things most of us talk about, but never quite get around to doing. If you want to get artsy in a hands-on way, make this the year you visit it or one of its sister festivals. The original arts extravaganza in the Nevada desert – as well as global events like AfrikaBurn in South Africa, NoWhere Festival in Spain and Midburn in Israel – all adhere to the same 10 founding principles.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 13Instead of thinking big, why not think small for a change? Miniatures aren’t just an ancient genre, a very specific skill and a sign of great patience plus a steady hand. They also offer a deceptively simple change of perspective. Learn how to draw in miniature with experts in courses around the globe, and discover how a whole world of art can fit on a postage stamp.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 14The reopening of the Rijksmuseum Schiphol is only the tip of the trend iceberg that is airport art. Other international hubs have artwork on loan from local museums, permanent installations by national and globally renowned artists, or temporary exhibitions adding a bit of culture to the travel experience. Amsterdam Schiphol, however, puts them all to shame with a miniature branch of one of the most famous museums in the world, displaying priceless paintings by Dutch masters. It certainly beats killing time in the duty-free.
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 15Meow Wolf have had a big year. The arts collective based in Santa Fe, New Mexico celebrated a decade of creative work, announced that they would be expanding to several other American cities, and at the end of the year, the documentary Meow Wolf: Origin Story had a limited theatrical release across the US. Experience the “more is more” approach to interactive art that bowled over George R.R. Martin in the permanent installation House of Eternal Return before the project goes global. [Photo by Kate Russell, courtesy Meow Wolf]
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Special Ultimate Experiences
15 Experiences That Push The Boundaries Of Art.
Slide Nr 16Will robot artists one day replace human creatives? We may not quite be there yet, but the concept, theory and the possibilities of bot art are already doing somersaults in the minds of artsy types. Disnovation, a French “working group”, has set up an online bot that predicts possible media art concepts by scanning current media headlines and stringing together words plucked from them to sometimes ridiculous, often poignant effect. Meanwhile, Christie’s sold a painting generated by an algorithm, and the Robot Art Competition produced pieces that were indistinguishable from human-painted works. Get in on the trend by building your own art robot or tinker around with the AI art software the big tech companies are working on. [Photo courtesy Disnovation]
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