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    Here’s What to Expect From the Debut of David Byrne’s 15,000-Square-Foot Immersive Experience, ‘Theater of the Mind’

    Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is debuting a 15,000-square-foot immersive experience today called Theater of the Mind.
    The hands-on show, created in partnership with technology investor Mala Gaonkar, explores human perception at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, specifically at its experimental Off-Center space, a former cannabis grow house in the Clayton neighborhood.
    Byrne told Rolling Stone that he chose to debut the show in Denver based on the center’s previous experience with immersive programming. “Not quite like this,” he said, “but they’ve cultivated an audience in Denver.”
    Byrne and Gaonkar collaborated on a similar project in 2016 at Pace Gallery’s Menlo Park location. Called “Neurosociety,” the experience contextualized brain research for the gallery setting.
    Byrne later staged an early version of “Theater of the Mind” in 2017 on Governors Island as a series of “workshop performances.”
    “Theater of the Mind” builds on that beta testing. Like “Neurosociety,” the show guides small groups of attendees through sensory experiments demonstrating how negotiable consensual reality actually is.
    “Experiments, we feel, are a form of theater,” Byrne and Gaonkar told Artnet News in 2016. At “Neurosociety,” visitors saw themselves reimagined as dolls, predicted the results of fictional elections, and experienced moving objects freezing.
    There’s no word on what specific gauntlets “Theater of the Mind” will entail, though it does take a more personal approach. Actors and actresses from the Denver Center’s stable play the guides who lead each group through “sensory experiments that reveal the inner mysteries of the brain,” inspired by actual stories from the lived experiences of Byrne and Gaonkar. They’ll engage sight, but also scent, touch, and sound.
    “I think a thing that’s going to really track for a lot of these audience members is the way that these different perceptual phenomena actually make up our perception of the world,” director Andy Scoville told the news outlet Denver 9. “And then the experience will ask the question, is that reliable? How malleable is that? And what does that mean for us as people?” Ego dissolution could help us actually use new scientific insights.
    Unlike Byrne’s zeitgeist Broadway show American Utopia, attendees at Theater of the Mind won’t really get to see the musician perform—unless they make it out for a live conversation between Byrne and leading neuroscientists moderated by Radiolab co-host Latif Nasser at the Denver Center on September 12.
    “The conversation will explore the intersections between art and science and the neuroscience research that inspired this groundbreaking production,” the center said in a statement in May.
    The most expensive tickets, up to $1,000, “may include a photo opportunity with David Byrne, cocktails with the creative team, [and] reserved seating.” Proceeds benefit immersive programming at Off-Center. General performances run through December 18.

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    Seoul’s Institutional Landscape Is as Good as Its Flourishing Commercial Scene. Here Are 7 Star-Powered Museum Shows to Add to Your Calendar

    While everyone’s focused on commercial art scene in Seoul this week, there are a slew of gallery shows opening to coincide with the debut of Frieze Seoul and the opening of the stalwart art fair Kiaf on Friday. The Korean capital has a wealth of museums and independent art project spaces to choose from. Here’s what is on our radar.
    Do Ho Suh and Children’s “Artland”Buk-Seoul Museum of ArtThrough March 12, 2023
    Artist Do Ho Suh. Photo: Courtesy Lehmann Maupin, New York/Hong Kong.
    “Artland” at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, which is a part of the network of Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), is presenting Do Ho Suh’s first collaborative children’s exhibition inspired by the artist and his children’s home activities. For over seven years in their London home, Suh and his children have been using modeling clay to create a fantastical ecosystem called Artland inhabited by a range of imaginary species of animals and plants. This exhibition not only brings Artland to Seoul, but also invites children visitors to add new elements to this ecosystem with their imagination.
    1238, Dongil-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul
    Group show “MANUAL”Primary PracticeAugust 27 to October 29
    Installation view of ‘MANUAL’ at Primary Practice, Seoul, 2022. ©CJY ART STUDIO (CHO Junyong)
    Primary Practice is a new not-for-profit project-based art space under the directorship of Kim Sung-woo, a curator and writer based in Seoul who was a curator for the 12th Gwangju Biennale in 2018 and a curatorial advisor for Busan Biennale in 2020. As the inaugural exhibition of the experimental Primary Practice, the group show “MANUAL” features local artists Kim Minae, Jeong Rohwa, and Hong Seung-Hye; it explores the intersection between automated technology and the exhibition as a construction.
    B1, 7, Changuimun-ro 11-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
    Ryu Sungsil’s “The Burning Love Song”Atelier HermèsThrough October 2
    Installation view of “The Burning Love Song,” 2022, video and installation. Photo Sangtae Kim © Fondation d’entreprise Hermès / Ryu Sungsil
    Just a year after the 1993-born Korean artist was awarded the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, an art award dedicated to Korean art, Ryu Sungsil has a major solo exhibition called “The Burning Love Song” on view. For this presentation, the artist examines capitalist Korean society through the journey of a fictional character called Dae Wang Lee, who runs a funeral home for dogs. The satirical mixed media show approaches societal issues in a humorous way while propeling audiences to reflect on what extent humans surrender their emotions to the machinery of profit.
    Maison Hermès Dosan Park B1F 7, Dosan-daero 45-gil, Gangnam-gu, Séoul, Corée du Sud
    Juree Kim’s “0 Columns”TINC (This is not a church)September 2 to September 22, 2022
    Juree Kim, Wet Matter(모습, 某濕)_202206 (2022). Provided by the Buk-Seoul Museum of Art.
    Formerly an artist in residence at the V&A, the 1980-born Juree Kim has already exhibited at various biennials around the world over the past decade. “0 Columns” is will be on view at Seoul’s TINC (This is not a church), an independent project space converted from a church. Featuring a new series of mysterious wet sculptures, these large structures might appear to be static at first glance, but they are constantly evolving throughout the show. Audiences are invited to immerse themselves in a space of contemplation while experiencing the scent of fresh soil as well as zen sounds.
    10 gil 34-16, Dongsomun-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul
    Um Tai-Jung’s “Dream and Rejoice of Silver Wings”Arario MuseumAugust 24 to February 26, 2023
    Um Tai-jung, Dream and Rejoice of Silver Wings (2022) ⓒ 2022 Um Taijung. Courtesy of Arario Museum.
    Housed in an iconic space designed by the late Korean architect Kim Swoo-geun, Arario Museum was founded by mega collector Kim Chang-il of the Arario Corporation in 2014. This branch of Arario Museum (it also has a space in Jeju) showcases recent works by Um Tai-jung in solo exhibition “Dream and Rejoice of Silver Wings.” Born in 1938, the renowned Korean artist is known for his abstract metal “healing space-sculptures.” This new show also features previously unseen works and drawings from 1960s to 1980s.
    83, Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
    Hito Steyerl—A Sea of DataThe National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA)Through September 18
    Installation view of Hito Steyerl–A Sea of Data, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), 2022. Image courtesy of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). Photography by HONG Cheolki. Courtesy of the Artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York and Esther Schipper, Berlin.
    MMCA is hosting Steyerl’s first large-scale solo exhibition in Asia, a monumental survey of the media artist and critic’s career. With 23 works, the exhibition spans early documentary-esque video works such as Germany and Identity (1994) to her more recent SocialSim (2020) as well as a new commission from the museum, Animal Spirits, which was on view at Documenta 15, expands on her exploration of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and robot engineering, and how they relate to human beings and society.
    30 Samcheong-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
    Group Show “Summer Love 2022”SONGEUN Art and Cultural FoundationThrough September 24

    Thirteen promising young Korean artists are on view in this group show, including Hana Kim, Mijung Lee, and Rhaomi. Guest artists Ahram Kwon—each of them won the 21st Songeun Art Award. Also on view is Kun-Yong Lee, an important figure in Korean experimental art. Swiss French artists Barbezat-Villetard have also made a performative installation to mark this important non-profit institution’s anniversary.
    441 Dosan-Daero, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul 
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    in Exhibitions

    Here Are 7 Gallery Shows Not to Miss in Seoul This Week, From Historical Korean Monochromes to Ethereal VR Environments

    The art world has descended on Seoul just in time for the inaugural Frieze Seoul and the Kiaf art fairs later this week. As the South Korean capital vies to take over from Hong Kong as an industry hub in Asia, more western galleries are moving in and mingling with the existing Korean gallery infrastructure.
    Before everyone heads to the COEX convention center to hit the fairs, visitors are exploring the cultural offerings around the city’s dynamic neighborhoods. Here are seven gallery shows we are looking forward to catching this week.
    “Emma Webster: Illuminarium”Perrotin Dosan ParkUntil October 1
    Emma Webster, Marshgate Snare (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
    Perrotin is inaugurating its second space in Seoul with a solo show of British-American artist Emma Webster. The L.A.-based artist uses virtual reality to construct her large-scale, ethereal landscape paintings that transport viewers into eerie hallucinatory scenes. Webster first builds her distorted natural worlds in VR models, which she then renders on canvas in a new iteration of cross-media collage.
    10 Dosan-Daero 45-Gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

    “Chung Chang-Sup: Mind in Matter”PKM GalleryUntil October 15
    Chung Chang-Sup, Meditation 91216 (1991). ©The Estate of Chung Chang-Sup. Courtesy of PKM Gallery.
    PKM Gallery is giving solo show attention to the late Korean abstract artist Chung Chang-Sup. Chung began his career working in Korea’s post-liberation years, and eventually became known for his contribution to the Korean monochrome movement, Dansaekhwa, in the mid-1970s. PKM’s exhibition hones in on the artist’s late-career works, from his 1980s “Tak” series, which incorporate mulberry bark (tak), a key ingredient in traditional Korean paper (Hanji), and runs up to his early 2000s series “Meditation” that was created at the height of his artistic production.
    40, Samcheong-ro 7-Gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul
    “teamLab: Massless Suns”PaceSeptember 2 until October 29
    teamLab, Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Eternity II (2019). ©teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery.
    Pace is launching its new ground floor exhibition space and outdoor courtyard in the gallery’s recently-expanded complex with a solo exhibition of the digital art collective teamLab. New and recent iterations of the collective’s multi-sensory installations, featuring blooming flowers and colorful sunsets, explore the links between humans and nature; the show will also include the titular interactive installation, Massless Suns and Dark Spheres, a never-before-seen work comprising glowing spheres of light and darkness that move when viewers try to touch them.
    1F, 267 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
    “Lee Seung Jio”Kukje GallerySeptember 1 until October 30
    Lee Seung Jio (1941-1990), Nucleus 75-10 (1975). Courtesy of artist’s estate and Kukje Gallery.
    One of Korea’s heavyweight galleries Kukje has chosen to present its first show of work by the late artist Lee Seung Joi, including what could be seen as some of the rarest instances of his oeuvre. Known as a pioneer of Korean geometric abstract painting, Lee was born in Yongchon, North Korea, in 1941, and died in 1990 in Seoul at the age of 49. Lee’s well-loved “Nucleus” series, which was debuted in 1967, was a project that paved the way for Korean geometric abstractionism; nearly 30 works from the series will be on view.
    54 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 03053

    “Rebecca Ackroyd: Fertile Ground”Peres ProjectsAugust 30 until October 13
    Rebecca Ackroyd, Trickle (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Peres Projects.
    Peres Projects from Berlin brings the U.K.-born Rebecca Ackroyd to its Seoul space, marking her first solo exhibition in Asia. Featuring new works on paper as well as two sculptures, “Fertile Ground” is inspired by the artist’s encounter with a construction site in London, where she discovered that an intricate network of pipes and metal was embedded in the site’s foundation. The seemingly colorful and fun appearances of this body of work are merely facades for distorted fragments of the past.
    B1, The Shilla Seoul, 249, Dongho-Ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, 04605
    “Diedrick Brackens: Together Our Shadows Make a Single Belly”Various Small FiresSeptember 1 until October 15
    Diedrick Brackens, stealing dark from the sky (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Various Small Fires Los Angeles / Dallas / Seoul.
    Texas-native Diedrick Brackens will have his solo debut in Asia in an exhibition showcasing four new intricately woven tapestries that explore the visual language of West African cultural symbolism, from the silhouetted figures to Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. Brackens has adopted a complex weaving method that embeds layers of colors in a way that demands viewers’ full attention for each individual work.
    Dokseodang-Ro 79, Yongsangu, Seoul
    “Ayoung Kim: Syntax and Sorcery”Gallery HyundaiAugust 10 until September 14
    Ayoung Kim, Delivery Dancer’s Sphere (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Hyundai.
    The Seoul-based, U.K.-educated Ayoung Kim is the star this art week at the homegrown Gallery Hyundai, which began representing the artist in February. Having exhibited internationally, with works presented at top film festivals around the world including the Berlinale in 2020, Kim presents a new video work that tells the futuristic story of a female delivery rider, exploring the notion of facts in a digital age controlled by algorithms. The show is set to be a timely reflection from an artist whose stomping ground is one of the world’s most technologically advanced and innovative economies.
    14 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03062
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    in Street Art

    “I Don’t Wanna Be, I AM” Group Exhibition at Dubai, UAE

    RexRomae presents I Don’t Wanna Be, I AM, a group exhibition curated by the Ink and Movement (IAM). The exhibition is an itinerant project that brings together the work of different artists under one roof. Creators who, despite their distinctive backgrounds and uniquely individual work, share an encompassing creative vision.It explores the concept of identity within the context of the international art world and is born from the necessity to approach new codes, new spaces and new interaction methods inside the universe of contemporary creation without hesitation.Having already visited Hamburg, Miami, and Lisbon, the exhibition now arrives in Dubai through RexRomae, presenting the works of Argentinian artists Elian Chali and Franco Fasoli, and Spanish artists Martí Sawe, Misterpiro, Nano4814, Okuda San Miguel, Sabek, Sixe Paredes and Spok Brillor.The result is an exhibition that is open to multiple interpretations and for all audiences, offering the opportunity to contemplate individual and collective creative identities.I Don’t Wanna Be, I AM exhibition will run until 20 September 2022. You schedule your gallery visit at RexRomae’s website.Scroll down below to have a sneak peak on the exhibition.Okuda San Miguel, Family Time in Pandemic II. Synthetic enamel on wood; 200 x 200 cmElian Chali, Cae El Mundo. Acrylic on canvas; 90 x 180 cmSabek, Better Off Alone. Acrylic on wood; 125 x 160 cm More

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    in Street Art

    New Mural by Onur and James Bullough in Berlin, Germany

    Street artists Onur and James Bullough have collaborated on a new mural in Berlin, Germany. The piece features the artists distinct styles of photorealism and graphic abstractions.Curated by Art agency Millecent, the project is located at Drontheimer St 32, Wedding, Berlin.ABOUT THE ARTISTSOnurOnur is a photorealistic painter and muralist, based in Solothurn, Switzerland. Intense colours and an organically shaped curve characterises the large-format screen of this artist.His motifs are urban cityscapes, suspenseful scenes or room-sized portraits exuding a penetrating power. To achieve this, he does not use traditional brush techniques and still uses the acryl roller from his early days, relying on techniques from theatre painting. The directness of the photorealism, which lets some light-sensitive colours only come to life in the right light, illustrates his drive for depictions. Yet, Onur never views the events from the perspective of reality but instead, he releases that which is seen from its original context to create a new context.James BulloughAmerican artist James Bullough lives and works in Berlin. His style mixes realistic portraiture with graphic abstractions as large murals and as studio paintings.James Bullough grew up in Washington, DC, in the USA and was inspired early by gritty urban graffiti he discovered in the US capital. Bullough taught himself in realistic oil painting techniques by studying the Old Masters of The Netherlands. In combining their technical precision with the momentum of graffiti, his work is about staging compelling contrasts and juxtapositions. More

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    “Lost in Music” by Mr. Woodland in Weeze, Germany

    Daniel Westermeier aka Mr. Woodland recently worked on a new mural in Weeze, Germany for San Hejmo Music & Culture Festival.Mr Woodland was born and raised in Bavaria, Erding in Germany. He studied graphic design in Munich, but as an artist he is self-educated from the very beginning. Becoming Mr Woodland, his graffiti influences developed to a mixture of contemporary painting, graphic fragments and surrealism. Since 2014 he has been working as a freelance artist worldwide.Take a look below for more photos of “Lost in Music” mural. More

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    in Street Art

    Mural by Rimon Guimarães in Brussels, Belgium

    With his art in public space Rimon wants to take people away from their monotonous daily routines and provoke them to see the street as a place where they can exchange real-life experiences instead of seeing it only as a means of travelling from one place to another.Anthropology and African art play a major role in Guimarães’ work  and the theme of the  African diaspora feature prominently, reflecting the cultural mix both in his native Brazil as well as around world. More

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    in Exhibitions

    Rising Artist Wendy Red Star on Why She’s Bringing Lost Native American Histories to Light on Bus Stops in Three U.S. Cities

    While preparing for her first public art exhibition—a series of paintings reproduced on bus shelters in New York, Chicago, and Boston—artist Wendy Red Star turned to museums for research. 
    She was looking into parfleches, or painted rawhide bags that tribes of the North American Great Plains used for transporting food and other personal belongings. For their makers, typically tribal women, the cases were utilitarian. But for Red Star, who is Apsáalooke (Crow), the objects represented something more: a shared tradition that kept these women’s stories alive, even when historians didn’t bother to do so.
    But not every museum the artist turned to was eager to help. One, she said, initially denied all access to the Crow objects in their collection, citing fears of cultural appropriation. Another required authorization from the Crow Tribe’s executive office—which might be akin to, say, asking for Congressional approval to study a Civil War flag. 
    “It just causes me such anxiety,” Red Star said of her experience negotiating with these institutions, which she referred to as “gatekeepers.” 
    “Maybe the fear is rejection,” she went on. “But to me, that rejection is so heavy because ultimately, it’s lost knowledge. And that’s what’s happened to Native people. Our knowledge has been taken away from us. It’s a terrible feeling.”
    Wendy Red Star, Buffalo Woman and Shows Going (2022). Photo: Nicholas Knight. Courtesy of the artist and Public Art Fund, NY.
    Eventually, Red Star received the support she was looking for, and the results of her effort make up “Travels Pretty,” her new Public Art Fund-sponsored show of paintings installed across bus shelters in three cities. It’s on view now through November 20. 
    Information gathering at museums was just one stage of what the artist considers her research process. The other was more experiential: recreating the designs of Crow craftswomen past, often to meticulous effect. 
    “It was a way for her to learn and study these objects in a more tactile way,” said Public Art Fund associate curator Katerina Stathopoulou, who curated the show. “She was almost retracing the hands of the artists who painted these parfleches hundreds of years ago.”
    Wendy Red Star, Walks Pretty (2022). Courtesy of the artist.
    In their two-dimensional form, Red Star’s designs scan more as painterly abstractions than reinterpretations of tribal craftwork. But accompanying each of the artist’s parfleches is a series of phrases that provide additional context clues—and a hint of poetic flair: “Rose and Soft Violet,” “Packing Case,” “Mother Taught Her Daughter,” “Double Funneled Diamond.” 
    The phrases were culled from the artist’s own research into the bags at museums, but also elsewhere—in textbooks, online articles, and so on. Most carry an air of cold institutional description: “Antedated Painting,” “Symmetrical Design.” Some even feel steeped in colonial gaze: “Industrious Apsáalooke Women,” “Parading In Style.”
    That Red Star would be drawn to these descriptions makes sense. Her own work often makes liberal use of labels, captions, and annotations, appropriating the kind of taxonomical language so often used to portray her culture. Sometimes, the goal is satire, as in her photo series “Four Seasons” and the “The Last Thanks,” both of which found the artist recreating the doll-filled dioramas of museums. 
    Other times, the strategy is more equivocal, as was the case with her 2019 series “Accession,” which paired her own photographs of an annual Crow parade with Works Progress Administration era-card catalogues that depict, in stunning watercolors, Native objects from the Denver Art Museum’s collection. One set of materials imagined tribal culture; the other showed it in all its contemporary vibrance.
    Wendy Red Star, Brings Together (2022). Photo: Mel Taing. Courtesy of the artist and Public Art Fund, New York.
    “Travels Pretty” no doubt falls into the latter category of Red Star artwork, fusing anthropological rhetoric and rich tribal design into a complex message about how heritage is shared across lines of time, geography, and culture. And Red Star, for her part, does not let the institutions have the last say. Each of her parfleches is named after a woman from the Apsáalooke tribe mentioned in the 1885 Crow Census. 
    “In one way, I am trying to build this counter-archive that is accessible and makes sense of my own living experience,” Red Star said. “I feel like I am the counter-archive.”
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