- Venue
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Location
- London
Disproving the idea that art and science have to be mutually exclusive, Decode: Digital Design Sensations is the V&A’s inaugural exhibition of contemporary digital and interactive design.
A range of international artists have used code, data and interactivity to shape 35 diverse works. The exhibition is in three distinct parts: Code, Network and Interactivity. The latter is by far the largest, relying on interaction from the visitor, echoing Duchamp’s theory that the viewer ‘completes’ the artwork. The best example of this is Body Paint by Mehmet Akten, where the movements of the viewer correspond to splashes of digital paint on a ‘canvas’. The more erratic the gesture, the better the effect – a refreshing change from the usual type of behaviour encouraged in a museum.
For those not particularly interested in programming, the opening pieces are not terribly provoking, however the exhibition gets exponentially better. The technical wizardry on show behind Weave Mirror (Daniel Rozin) is almost as visually pleasing as the effect it produces, and Make-out (Rafael Lozano-Hemmer) raises interesting questions about voyeurism.
Unfortunately, not all the exhibits were working at the time of my visit, namely Dandelion by Sennep/YOKE and Opso-Isolator II by Golan Levin, a stark reminder of how temperamental modern technology can be!
The V&A is home to myriad manifestations of design, so it seems fitting that Decode is here. A continuity between artworks past, present and future is demonstrated by On Growth and Form by Daniel Brown, which generates pictures of growing plants which seem to reference the Arts and Crafts movement. Decode offers us a glimpse into the future, where digital ideas transcend their virtual boundaries and include a human element.
