ARTECHOUSE

Page curated by Jill Preston and Grace Lyons

About the exhibit

Titled Transient: Impermanent Paintings, the artist Quayola sought to explore the relationships between opposing forces, such as real and artificial, human vs. machine. He wants to incorporate contemporary technology to redesign and reimagine classical icons. ARTECHOUSE is an innovative arts experience, with the goal illuminate what a normal audience perceives as art.

(Jill Preston)

A Musician Reflects on Artechouse

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect when I heard about this exhibit. I am an organist, harpsichordist, and Lieder singer - not a computer-generated music fan! Baroque music, which I specialize in is highly organized and harmonically complex. And surrendering my control of the instrument to an algorithm is very foreign to me.

After an hour of watching the automated piano, I was drawn into the relationship between the musician and their instrument. Do we have to be physically present to be performing - do we even have to touch the instrument to perform? Can an algorithm replace human creativity?

It is a technological marvel, don't get me wrong - but I left ARTECHOUSE feeling thankful that I won't be completely out of a job thanks to an algorithmically-operated piano. There was paradoxically something less artistic - no expressiveness, dynamic changes, or improvisatory spirit - that imbued the "performance".

(Justin Oei)

A Soulless Pianist

At first wander in Artechouse is a marvel, but this is partially fueled by confusion. There lights were stunning and the music was mysterious, this effect lasted eight minutes. After acclimating to the beautiful environment it doesn't take long to revel in the technological horror that we've paid to view. It was a piano concert devoid of life that become a bore within the hour.

(Kai Okai-Brown)

Artechouse invites the audience to become the art through an immersive experience in which the viewer is overwhelmed in the joined movement of music and visual design.

(Jill Preston)

Photos Taken By Xiwen Liu

There are two folds of this artistic expression. Firstly the interaction between people and the artistic environment. When you walk into it, it makes you feel like you're part of it. From different angles, you could have a different feeling towards the drawing. When sitting on a seat, you feel you're watching someone drawing; when sitting on the floor, you feel you're surrounded by drawings; when lying on the floor, you feel someone is drawing on your body. Secondly the tech part of the show. Seeing the piano playing automatically and seeing the code running on the screen brings the art to the next level. Really cyberpunk. (Xiwen Liu)

Ephemeral Color and Sound

Walking into the Artechouse exhibit, I could feel an immediate environmental and sensory transformation. The combination of color and light with music reminds me of synesthesia (my high school choral director had a form of synesthesia where she saw colors with different qualities of music/tone/pitch). I also appreciated the overarching idea of ephemerality in the art and music - beauty is constantly changing (seasons change, moods change, and so on). It can feel hard to relinquish control over our lives and acknowledge impermanence, but once we start to accept the constant flow of the world and recognize our role or part in it, the feelings of anxiety can sometimes shift to feelings of release and a new kind of power over our lives and the world. Although I wish there had been a broader range of musical genres to show the extent to which this technology and algorithm could be used, I greatly enjoyed the exhibit. It captivated my attention from the first moment, and was mesmerizing visually.

*I would note that I do not know that all audiences would find it equally accessible or enjoyable (because I can imagine it quickly becoming overwhelming for those sensitive to highly stimulating environments with lots of noise, light, and darkness). (Alice Baughman)

Music and Algorithms

Since the moment we walked in, overlooking this big, tall, and empty space where music and color bounced off the walls, it felt like we were inside the artist's mind: the emotional and creative process of making music. We walked into another world. We were immediately enthralled by the colorful lights and music, making it a surreal experience.

As a data scientist, I was really interested in trying to figure out how the musician used algorithms to produce the colors by seeing patterns. It was definitely more difficult to find these patterns than I expected, but nonetheless I was fascinated by how the musician used technology to create this immersive experience. (Laura Brancati)

Made for INFLUENCERS

Based on photos from our visit, the exhibit looks beautiful but I don't feel that it accurately reflects the sensory overload of the experience. It seems to me that this exhibit was designed to be photographed and for people to post on social media, not necessarily for people to have a meaningful artistic experience. (Meghan Smith)

Artistic Renewal

For me, Artechouse had a very sentimental touch. This experience hits like a bomb of color. It reminds me of the late afternoon when I was 6, the moment I opened a book by Van Gogh. I still remember the power of these paintings and colors. Flowing with the energy on the wall, my memory pulls me into endless nostalgia. For a very long time, when I feel all my passion for art is obliterated, it is renewed by this explosion of color.

For this exhibition, it interestingly reminds me of a piece of work I saw in Shanghai, China. (Via Valentino's show: RED). It is a very powerful art piece that explores the relationship between technology and art. AI and Algorithms which usually hold a very cold connotation are given more warmth in the exhibit with the human interaction or the audience.. I believe it enhances the effect of the art on the audience and gives artists broader ways to express themselves. (George Shi)

Tonality

An aspect of this exhibit I was fascinated by was watching the program of notes run under the piano. I became focused on the musical structure of the piece being played. It had an incomplete and unsettling quality to it, yet a tonic and resolution could still somewhat be identified. The main notes used by the composer were C, D, A, and G and their respective sharps in different octaves. Most of the motion was in octaves and fifths, moving up and down by half steps. His music was mesmerizing and I could have sat and listened to it for longer, had there been more to explore.

(Grace Lyons)

But . . . how does it work? Could it do it with a Bach prelude?, a Chopin étude?, Bruce Hornsby? Elton John? I drink in the colors and their rhythmic dance but am underwhelmed by the regularity and predictability of the music. (Anne Rasmussen)

Synesthesia - The Synthesis of the Senses

Observing this exhibit, I was reminded of synesthesia, a neurological disorder in which the human brain cannot distinguish the senses from one another. This results in a phenomenon where people who have this disorder can actually SEE sound in a variety of different shapes and colors. In fact, many prominent musicians (such as Duke Ellington, Ramin Djawadi, and Blood Orange) actually drew/draw on their synesthesia in the creation of their music. (Evan Wollerton)

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(Evan Wollerton)

Style over Substance?

While I understand my classmates' sentiments of awe at the visual grandeur of ARTECHOUSE's Transient: Impermanent Paintings exhibit, I wonder how much of the exhibit's stated mission is more bark than bite. The exhibit is initially very stimulating for the senses, allowing you to be completely immersed in its array of colors and sounds. However, as time passed in the exhibit I began to question what exactly the exhibit is suggesting about the future of technology and art, an erosion of meaning which increased with the ample sitting time. Past the central spectacle, the framed stills of the computer-generated images felt little more than glorified screenshots, ultimately leaving me in want of the more complicated and spirited touch of a living human. While I am glad I was able to visit this exhibit, I wonder whether this museum is the as-advertised cutting-edge intersection of technology and art or if it is merely a successful attempt at catering to the Instagram crowd. (Sophia Moustaid)

cynicism to enjoyment to emptiness

I had a lot of cynicism coming into the space, as I always do for a place overhyped like this one. I had my reasons. I know of a similar exhibit in Shanghai, as George mentioned above. I have not been to that one but it was popular around my peers. It was not an exaggeration to say that I saw hundreds of pictures of people posing with the colorful walls as the background. I cannot figure out people’s personal connection with the piece other than its social media value.

Then I decided to give the critic in me a little break and just try to enjoy the sensory stimulation. It was really overwhelming at the beginning, but I got used to it. I lay myself down in the side room where they had the screen on the ceiling, and I felt a moment of serenity.

Still, I felt that something was missing. “ARTECHOUSE” is art, technology, and house. But where is the human? To me, the audience is the most important part of the exhibit. This is a sharp contrast with the “Girlhood” exhibition I saw earlier that day in the National Museum of American History, where there is a whole area dedicated to collecting people’s thoughts on the exhibition.

On final thought. Maybe ARTECHOUSE is more suitable to be public art in a park, etc. It has the potential to bring inspiration to people just walking by. Personally, I think people should not gatekeep these spaces. (Gujie S.)

"I had fun, but having attended the previous show I found it much less immersive and interactive than expected. I would have left after 30 minutes if not for the social pressure of keeping pace with my peers. I would hate to appear to be less appreciative of the ~arts~ than the average DC Seminar student." ~ Abby Riemer

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