Haltuunotto

Takeover presents different approaches to virtual art by a group of Finnish media artists. The exhibition is a follow-up to the VR in Art workshop and related demo events organised in 2017 by media art collective Kruks.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have gathered extensive artistic interest in recent decades. Their development is however driven by the entertainment industry and technology companies, leaving cultural and alternative viewpoints aside. The Takeover exhibition aims to break this one-sided development and bring these new media technologies to the reach of artists.

The exhibition reflects on what Virtual and Augmented Reality are as materials and tools of making art. Are they only good for quick experiences such as the Pokémon Go game, and what is their relation to art? What purpose do they serve, and on whose terms are they produced?

The selected artworks represent different, even slightly humorous approaches to virtuality such as a do-it-yourself VR headset made from a plastic bucket or a cardboard box in which one can have bodily sensations of virtuality. The pioneering work Conversations with Angels from the 90’s provides a media archaeological perspective to the development of the field.

Artists and artist groups featured are Kari Yli-Annala, Tuukka Haapakorpi, Satu-Minna Suorajärvi, Andy Best and Merja Puustinen, Tomi and Mikko Dufva, Pasi Rauhala, and the Pagan artist collective (Tuomo Tammenpää, Daniel Blackburn and Lisa Roberts). The exhibition is curated and produced by Jukka Hautamäki and Markku Nousiainen.

Kruks is a media art collective founded in 2015 for Finnish and Finland-based professional artists, researchers and enthusiasts working in the field of art and technology. The aim of the collective is to increase awareness and appreciation of media technological art, to connect people in the field; and to enhance the interplay between art and technology, and the study of related social issues.