At the Art Base in downtown Basalt, a show called “Hypermnesia” combines digital art with audio and virtual reality to explore the ways in which digital stimuli affect memory.
The gallery is filled with a low-pitched, ambient hum, pulsing from a speaker. On the wall, warped images of urban landscapes form a world that is part funhouse mirror, part Xerox machine malfunction.
And, through the lens of a virtual reality headset, viewers can feel as if they’re living within the scenes on display. A flickering, pixelated, heat-mapped version of Google Street View moves seamlessly between subway stations, cavernous buildings, sidewalks and canals. The experience is wholly immersive and slightly disorienting, with an advisory for those who may be sensitive to motion and flashing images.
Jahn Carlos Neri, the artist behind the work, believes that many people interact with art by observing it at a distance.
“But what I wanted to do is to create a huge experience with that interaction, right?” Neri said in a Zoom interview. “So …. instead of just observing the piece, (people) are activating that art piece with virtual reality.”
Neri selected landscapes that are significant to his own past, “nostalgic” and “special” in his recollections.
“For me, this is like a way to share my own mind, my own memories,” Neri said. It’s also a way to accentuate those experiences, hence the title of the show: “Hypermnesia,” derives from the roots “hyper” (implying abundance, or excess) and “mnesia” (a reference to memory, and remembering).
He hopes that the audio and visuals for this show will stimulate viewers’ own memories and emotions, too.
“Hypermnesia” is up at The Art Base through Friday, when the show will close with an artist walkthrough at 5 p.m. Neri will also lead a “conversation lab” at the gallery on Thursday at 5 p.m. The workshop will focus on virtual reality, augmented reality and interactive art; participants will also get the opportunity to create their own virtual reality headset.
