Immersive Digital Art Space Opens In The Los Angeles Arts District
By @scifiannemarie
Wisdome Los Angeles is the first fully immersive entertainment park of its scale. It boasts a total of 35 000 square foot shared between open space and five 360-degree domes equipped with 10.1 surround sound for a fully immersive experience.
The venue can hold up to 1500 people, and Wisdome seeks to connect each individual in a very human experience with music and digital technology.
At the current exhibition, the entire venue is filled with work by digital painter Android Jones in a variety of formats.
In the first dome where the digital journey starts, a hall of infinity mirrors begins to immerse visitors in the idea of the self, multiple perspectives and the idea that reality is subjective. Followed by a room of illusion and reflective art, it’s clear the intent is not just to display art, but for visitors to engage in a digital experience.
Leaving the first dome, visitors walk into a gallery of Android Jones’ physical art pieces as well as an interactive digital art installation, projection mapping and digital screens with alternating landscapes.
The fine arts have often been classified as something other than digital, but in this merging of art forms, it becomes clear that art has many dimensions.
In the next dome, projection mapping runs fractal patterns in harmony with music to create a connection between the different physical senses of sight and sound.
It’s also a VR space where users are able to paint the digital world with Android Jones’ brush at two VR stations. One is a free roam world of light, shapes, and color, and the other is a more solidified world of art landscapes that avatars fly over. These experiences are by MicrodoseVR that combines art, music and dance into real-time gaming. At this station, many visitors were trying VR for the first time, and came away with a very positive experience.
The final two domes present art and sound on an even greater scale. The first, is the 90 foot Mantra dome where 600 people can gather for a multisensory experience that meshes digital art, sound and virtual reality. Second, is a dome separate from the rest with its own unique projections and sound designs.
Outside, firepits, refreshments and a place to gather is a reflection of community building Wisdome seeks to enable by curating a venue where like-minded people can come together to explore something new.
The venue challenges the role of the viewer as passive, to one as an active participant in the art itself, in a collective experience with others in the same space.
In many ways and specifically with digital art, the art is not complete until the viewer becomes a part of the journey. The term “gesamtkunstwerk” is a German term that refers to a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. Wisdome has captured the many forms of art in one tangible space.
As digital experiences become more prevalent, it’s incredibly important to emerge from a one-dimensional concept of art as either music or sound or light or canvas. It’s this concept of total art, or gesamtkunstwerk, and collective capability that has brought together an exceptional experience.
New generations are seeking meaningful experiences, and exploring the intersection of art, music and technology through community is laying the groundwork for future innovation with a very key human dynamic that enables digital as a connector rather than as a divider.
“This city is one of the creative capitals of the worlds and is filled with people looking to learn, try something different, and experience transformation. We have been blown away by the excitement and reaction from everyone so far and have big plans in mind for 2019,” said artist Android Jones.
Upcoming events can be found at Wisdome.LA.
Images by: @muziqfiend and @fragilexcollective
Art by: @android_jones
