Written By: GIUSEPPE MAUTONE

The future, a fast-surging tidal wave of the new, the unveiled, and the undoing of what was. Everything is changing in a hurried rush, and art is not left behind in the crush. A landmark exhibition of large-scale video game installations was presented in partnership with Water Street Projects, at WSA in New York, this autumn.

Onassis ONX produced Group Hug, an exhibition of large-scale, site-specific video game installations by artists Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Theo Triantafyllidis, and Tale of Tales (Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn). Curated in collaboration with Julia Kaganskiy, Serpentine Arts Technologies, and Rhizome, the exhibition invites visitors to play together and lose themselves in the sensorial worlds of each game through sight, sound, and touch.

– Jazia Hammoudi, Program Director of Onassis-ONX

A first for many reasons. It seems as though the fine art culture is beginning to see the long-term value of digital arts, in particular, those of the video gaming industry. An industry that single handedly has propelled technology forward; graphics cards, ray tracing, and rendering performance, just to name a few.

Group Hug marks the first major presentation in New York City by Onassis ONX, the hybrid production studio, lab and exhibition space dedicated to the development of new media art and immersive experiences, based both in New York and Athens.

“We think that New York City is primed to engage with video works that disrupt our conceptions around digital art and challenge us to reconsider our definition of a ‘game.’ We are thrilled to activate WSA, a space which really allows us to play on a huge, multidimensional scale,” said Jazia Hammoudi, Program Director of Onassis-ONX. “By freeing this project from the single curator framework, Group Hug is an opportunity for us to work with long-time friends and champions, and engage with the most exciting and visionary artists in digital art and new media.”

They create new interactive installations of digital video-gaming arts, so visit their site to view the upcoming schedule.

TO EXPLORE MORE VISIT: ONASSIS ONX

• WRITTEN BY: GIUSEPPE MAUTONE
• PHOTO CREDITS: ONASSIS ONX