0x2918ceda…7b6esent to0x08812b86…2f1f·#21,200,987·view on Etherscan
0x2918cedA641716Fd6BdA3CcF691c3B54D4C87b6e**Exhibiting Art In The Digital Renaissance**
Exhibiting art, particularly in scenography, has undergone a profound transformation since the rise of digital art. While galleries, art fairs, and museums remain cherished venues for experiencing art, digital media brings forth new possibilities, demands, and challenges to traditional presentation methods, being inherently immaterial. Exhibiting the Timechain has set me on a path of re-evaluating how it should be displayed and what holds true meaning in the digital age.
**Screens, Screens, Screens**
The most natural physical canvas for digital art remains the screen. In recent years, since the cryptoart boom, a new wave of high-end screens has enabled digital art to truly shine: matte screens with such high resolution they resemble framed prints, screens that rotate with the artwork seamlessly filling the frame, towering screens in public spaces or in New York's MoMA, screen cubes simulating glass boxes you can peer into, and even immersive spaces where the screens cover the walls, ceiling, and floor. From the spherical screen in Las Vegas to screens blanketing entire rooms, creative possibilities abound, making a remarkable impact.
[Here is a selection of exhibitions of the Timechain in Times Square and all over Belgium public spaces thanks to Artcrush, and in the immersive room of NFC in Lisbon in 2023.](https://arweave.net/7d3m6cnMFplNo2uEtKve0AM8SgcRXRTdy2CY0F9BwBA/Cornaelhuys_Belgium_NYC_NFC.mp4)
The inherent plasticity of digital native visual art shines in the way it can be adpated to screens of any format and size. Yet, perhaps the most relevant exhibition method should be digital as well.
**Skeuomorphism and Virtual Spaces**
Websites, whether artist-owned, marketplace platforms, or digital galleries, are indeed exhibition spaces in their own right. So too, in a sense, are social media profiles. This demonstrates that exhibiting in a digital space needn’t rely solely on 3D. With few exceptions, such as virtual sculptures, two-dimensional formats are quite well-suited to flat artworks on flat screens. Yet shared virtual worlds and 3D spaces bring an intriguing dynamic, especially when paired with a social dimension or immersive VR headsets.
The first virtual exhibitions of Cornælhuys took place in 2021 within Cryptovoxels (now Voxel), through Giannis Sourdis' Museum of NFT Art (M0NA), and in Decentraland with Sarah Moosvi (Tara Digital Collective). These blockchain-based virtual worlds, while in their infancy, offered an exciting opportunity to playfully question the necessity of *skeuomorphism* in virtual exhibitions..
Skeuomorphism here refers to design approaches that emulate older aesthetics, ergonomics, or functions within new technology. For instance, early plastic furniture was often textured to resemble wood, until designers began embracing the unique qualities of plastic to create sleeker forms. Skeuomorphism has two sides: one involves a lack of courage to embrace new paradigms, while the other eases audiences into unfamiliar spaces with familiar features.
At the time, I approached the design of these spaces with a rebellious stance against skeuomorphism, even writing an article on virtual architecture practices. Why have ceilings or walls in a virtual gallery when there’s no rain, dust, or UV rays to harm the artwork? Why ground and floors when gravity is optional? These early exhibitions encouraged visitors to fly into the mouth of a voxel mascaron, entering an immersive cube with animations on every side, or to ascend a spiral staircase, gazing upward at an imposing circle of ancient figures.
My perspective has since tempered. I’ve recognised that some skeuomorphic elements can help visitors focus on the art rather than the space itself. In 2022, I exhibited the series within the Oncyber platform, a space with a timeless aesthetic and central pendulum reflecting the importance of time to this series. Each mask loomed several meters high, immersing visitors in their colossal presence, and the VR compatibility allowed viewers to experience each piece’s soundtrack in proximity-based audio, making movement intuitive and manageable within two dimensions. Not having to fly was also easier to navigate, essentially the necessary movements to 2 dimensions.
**Social Exhibitions**
The Timechain’s digital mascarons, detached from their architectural origins, function as true masks. And what better place to showcase masks than on people’s faces? This is where Augmented Reality filters on social media platforms like Instagram, Messenger, Snapchat, and TikTok come in. The public becomes the gallery. This approach also taps into the core essence of ancient theatrical masks, reawakening the lively, punk spirit that underpins the grotesque movement. Below are a few filters I designed for Messenger, Snapchat, and Instagram, worn by myself, cryptoartists J'erre and Animatttic, and curators Fanny Lakoubay and Sarah Moosvi.
Another avenue for social media exhibitions is through animated GIFs, which flood virtual keyboards and post editors. These memes are powerful cultural tools, allowing people to bring humour, absurdity, and emotion to their posts. GIF memes have a strong basis in remix culture, much like hip-hop sampling, drawing from films, series, other memes, music videos, or anything well done enough to capture a specific vibe.
[GIF Memes](https://arweave.net/cfo32hZjy3uQuCgOYviwOp3CU4SBLP1QZhDUXc4Lutc/GIFtcc.mp4)
**Concluding Musings**
Another use of AR included the ability to scan the original etchings by Frans Huys with a smartphone, to see the animated version with a soundtrack replacing it, effectively bridging the old, the physical, with the new digital.
Ultimately, I’m considering street art as a next step, potentially bringing these digital masks into public spaces through mosaics of their pixelated on-chain forms. Depending on funding possibilities, I would also explore 3D modeling and printing to recapture their volume-based origins.
This journey in exhibiting digital art is one of constant experimentation, with each step revealing new ways to play with traditional and digital realms. Along the way, there may even emerge a little gem, something unexpected, sparked by the dialogue between art and its audience in the digital age.