PIVOTAL: Digitalism to present the very best Digital Art being created in Britain.

This September British Art Fair 2024 will present PIVOTAL: Digitalism, a special section presenting the very best digital art being created and exhibited in Britain today.

Two top-floor galleries at British Art Fair 2024, will be dedicated to PIVOTAL which promises to be a dynamic addition to the Modern and Contemporary British Art on show. Designed by the celebrated creative director, Peter Higgins, one space will provide visitors with immersive experiences in digital art; and the other, an opportunity to see the latest AI, AR, VR, digital sculpture, moving image, photography and painting being created. PIVOTAL marks the first time a UK art fair has dedicated an entire section to digital art. All works will be for sale, with staff on hand to give buyers specialist advice on collecting and displaying digital art.

Will Ramsay, Director, British Art Fair says:

The digital works in my own collection give me great pleasure and are showstoppers for guests. Although the art form (in its various guises) has been around for many years, it is relatively new to the art market. Our message is that now is the time to buy digital art, and PIVOTAL at British Art Fair 2024 is the place to start your collection.

PIVOTAL: Digitalism is curated and produced by prominent academic and interdisciplinary artist, Rebekah Tolley-Georgiou we managed to grab some time with Rebekah to find out more about her team and what you’ll get to see at ‘PIVOTAL: Digitalism’.

How did it happen – how did you persuade the British Art Fair to give you space for digital art?

Back in 2021, I undertook an artist-in-residence at the now Hugo Burge Foundation, Marchmont House in Scotland (being the first digital artist to be awarded a residency there). It was during my exhibition for the residency that I was approached by someone who was interested in acquiring my work. This turned out to be Will Ramsay, founder of the Affordable Art Fairs, who less than a year later, would go on to acquire the British Art Fair.

On visiting Will at his home last summer, I was struck by the fact that amongst his extensive and very fine collection of classic and contemporary art pieces, were some really interesting examples of digital art, something I must admit I wasn’t expecting to see. He and I got into a conversation about digital art (something I both trained in and have taught for many years at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as being a practitioner), and our discussion culminated in me sending him some links to pieces – both historical and contemporary – that I thought he might find of interest.… Will’s interest was certainly piqued, and some months on, he asked if I would be interested in putting forward a proposal for a digital art section at the British Art Fair (a first in its 36-year history), something I would subsequently develop and finally go on to present to the board of the fair, which happily was enthusiastically received by all and given the green light.

Can you tell us about your advisory team

I call them my A Team! A veritable who’s who of digitalist luminaries! They include: Royal Designer for Industry, Peter Higgins, whose company Land Design Studio has designed numerous temporary and touring exhibitions for the V&A, British Museum, NHM, IWM, the Maritime Museum, Historic Palaces, amongst many others. We are incredibly lucky to have Peter design our fabulous gallery spaces for PIVOTAL…he literally is a pivotal part of PIVOTAL!

BIMA Digital Hall of Fame alumni, Tomas Roope; Tom is a prominent British digital media designer and futurist, known for his innovative contributions to the digital industry. Cofounder of Antirom, Tomato Interactive and The Rumpus Room, and a former Group Creative Lead for Google ZOO in EMEA, Tom is an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry and a member of the BIMA Digital Hall of Fame and has rightly earned recognition for his significant impact on digital culture. He co-founded the influential Antirom artist collective in 1994, challenging conventional notions of multimedia and pioneering interactive art forms. Antirom’s groundbreaking CD-ROM, showcased at The Barbican’s Digital Revolution exhibition (2017), marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital creativity.

Award-winning artist and guest lecturer on the MA Digital Direction at the Royal College of Art, Lol Sargent RCA. As a renowned artist and creative director, Lol is known for his groundbreaking work in fine art, digital media, and experiential design. With an MA in Fine Art Printmaking from the RCA and the founder and Creative Director of Studio Simple, he has led the design and production of transformative digital media installations for renowned UK museums and iconic venues, earning acclaim and awards, including a BAFTA for ‘The Famous Grouse Experience.’ His multidisciplinary expertise and relentless enthusiasm have made him an invaluable member of our advisory team for PIVOTAL.

London-based New Zealand artist Jacqui Kenny, best known as ‘The Agoraphobic Traveller’; has done a number of projects supported by Google, including a solo exhibition in Soho, New York and a film of her work was shown on the front page of Google globally for World Mental Health Day. Jacqui’s work has been featured in Thames & Hudson’s ‘A Chronology of Photography’ and ‘Visual Culture’ by MIT Press. Her work has been covered by publications including The New Yorker, National Geographic and most recently a cover story for Wired Magazine. Jacqui brings a wealth of experience in digital arts, and we are
excited that she will also be part of our artist roster for the show.

Multimedia technical manager, Tom Cullen, has led on the installation of major works for Sir Isaac Julien, Bill Viola, Gillian Wearing, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor Wood and Jane and Louise Wilson, and has been involved in technical production/management in the arts for over 35 years, having worked with Gillian Wearing since 1994, and Sir Isaac Julien since 2000. As a technical manager, he has also worked on 6 British Art Shows for Hayward Touring, as well as multiple editions of the Liverpool Biennial, including the original Video Positive and AV festivals. A fabulous joining of the dots for PIVOTAL, Tom worked on the install of Charles Saatchi’s Sensation show in 1997!

Jack Hardiker, Artist and Creative Director, Office of Everyone, and tutor on the Digital Direction MA at the Royal College of Art, leads the ‘Storytelling For The Unexpected: Participation, Accessibility and Technology’ research community. He founded the collaborative arts and technology studio ‘Office of Everyone’, which seeks to improve participation in the arts and culture through the use of creative technologies. The studio works with artists, storytellers and performance makers, developing work that incorporates augmented reality, virtual reality, projection, kinetic installation, binaural sound and bone conduction. Jack’s advisory focus for PIVOTAL is on the AR (Augmented Reality) section of the show.

Can you tell us what people will see & why is it called PIVOTAL?

Visitors to PIVOTAL will be treated to a wide range of digitalism experiences! Our galleries will provide visitors with immersive experiences in digital art; and an opportunity to see the latest AI, AR, VR, digital sculpture, moving image, photography and painting being created.

Simply because so often during early discussions with my advisory team, we kept using the word! 2024 truly is a pivotal year in digital art, with trends such as AI, shaping the landscape of digital art and influencing the way artists create and engage with an audience. It’s a constantly evolving space, as artists continue to push the boundaries of what can be achieved, by using ever more advanced technologies, and ultimately helping to define the future of artistic expression. Our exhibition PIVOTAL: Digitalism heralds a new era for British Art Fair, which itself is pivoting to new model, by showcasing both
traditional and digital forms of creative expression on an equal footing.

Can you explain the link with Sensation?

Echoing the iconic impact of the Sensation show at the Royal Academy in 1997, our goal with PIVOTAL is to craft another cultural milestone, and it seems only fitting to be doing that at the Saatchi Gallery! Much like how Charles Saatchi’s vision and curation propelled Sensation into the realm of art history, our defining of Digitalism as a long overdue movement in art in a show that will sit alongside the very best of traditional Modern British and Contemporary art at British Art Fair aspires to capture that same spirit of innovation, provocation, and cultural resonance via our Digitalists showcase, in what is undoubtedly the biggest issue-based era of art, ever…

Who will be exhibiting and what will they be exhibiting?

The artists include: AI photographer and creative director AI. S.A.M. whose work merges the real with the artificial, challenging our perception of virtual worlds; Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm, creator of the first-ever AI and blockchain artwork in space aboard NASA’s part of the International Space Station; British-Korean AI artist David Sheldrick, whose commissions include projects for Manchester City FC, Coke Studios, Standard Chartered Bank and Mercedes Benz. Jack Kaido, cited by Christie’s as ‘one of the artists at the forefront of digital art today’., and whose work has also been featured on the International Space Station! New Zealand native, Jacqui Kenny known as the Agoraphobic Traveller, whose work challenges the idea of “who is the creator?”, is showing alongside KEZIAI, an award winning film director who brings keen imagination and cinematic storytelling to create whimsical works using AI; London-based, award-winning integrated designer, and Web3 artist, Cem Hasimi. Senior 3D artist and video director, Lewis Benfield (LBVVFX) is exhibiting alongside 3D artist, Yanis Georges (ETHIKDESIGN). Art agency Kei London is presenting works selected from its exciting roster of digital artists. RCA graduates Olesea Bortniac, Shahwali Shayan, and Tao Xie push the boundaries of creativity with their unique audio-visual works. The experimental art collective Untold Garden, known for its physical installations, virtual sculptures and alternative social networks, will debut new work, as will the London artist known as X New Worlds, whose popularity has led to recent exhibitions in New York, Seoul, Porto and Barcelona. In addition, Jeremy Kidd brings his celebrated digital photography and moving image works to PIVOTAL, and as a grandson, to two of the 20th Century’s most important British artists, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, he provides that perfect metaphorical bridge between traditional and digitalist arts.

What kind of art/formats will people be able to buy?

There will be plenty of choice, from digital photo artworks, paintings, digital sculptures (Augmented Reality) as well as physical sculptures you can interact with. There’s even a 3-metre tapestry!

PIVOTAL: Digitalism at BRITISH ART FAIR, 26th – 29th September 2024 Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York Square King’s Road, London SW3 4RY britishartfair.co.uk

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