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EVENT DESCRIPTION
Last year’s BLUTOPIA at AIRSIDE’s GATE33 Gallery saw flourishing success, sparking discussion and awareness as well as garnering the Gold award in the 2024 Muse Design Awards: Conceptual Design – Exhibition & Events category.
This December, GATE33 Gallery again joins hands with local creative team ALAN (Artists Who Love Animals and Nature) in its latest digital art exhibition, “Spirit of Sumatra” Digital Art Experience, to explore the bond between Sumatran rainforests and mankind from 13 December 2024 to 28 February 2025. A mix of MR (Mixed Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence), the exhibition is home to 5 zones and 9 interactive experiences. Participants can join for free and learn more about its creative back story. ALAN has also specially designed 5 postcards of Sumatra’s endangered animals for the campaign!
Artists from Indonesia, the Netherlands, France, the UK & Hong Kong
Featuring Works in Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence
ALAN has long integrated technology into art pieces that raise awareness for wildlife and their natural habitat. Earlier this year, curator Anita Lam and a few artists paid a visit to Sumatra, Indonesia, to meet with local conservation organizations and conduct site visits. They then worked with a team of creators from Indonesia, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to bring together a total of 9 large-scale interactive art pieces* that take visitors right into the heart of Sumatran rainforests to relay not only the beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, but to also invite visitors to reflect on the complex issue of “conflict animals”, the inherent value of wildlife, and the delicate balance between economic growth and ecological preservation.
Step into the “Spirit of Sumatra” Digital Art Experience: experience the magical transition of day to night at the MR-helmed “Spirit of Leuser”; see how genetically similar humans are to orangutans with an AI-generated interactive portrait, “97%”; and converse in both Chinese and English with a special orangutan in the AI-generated dialogue installation, “Friska”. In mid-December, Dutch artist Leon Keer will create his perspective mural “Gift of Nature” onsite in front of the public.
Meander the Rainforests through 5 Zones and Reflect on How Man & Nature can Share Earth in Peace
From 13 December 2024 to 28 February 2025, GATE33 Gallery’s “Spirit of Sumatra” Digital Art Experience done in collaboration with local creative team ALAN brings 5 zones, featuring 9 interactive art pieces:
At the entrance is Indonesian artist duo Tempa’s “Alam Takambang Jadi Guru” – a piece that reimagines Sumatra’s lush environment with symbolic details like rare Sumatran fauna, vibrant flora, Mount Kerinci and coffee beans.
Within Zone One is local creation team KaCaMa Design Lab’s “Paper Sumatra Forest” in the eponymous medium, featuring the flora and fauna of Sumatra, including the world’s largest flower. Wear MR goggles and be amazed at its transition from day to night in the “Spirit of Leuser” done by Hong Kong-based The Collective and French artist Frédéric Bussiere and see if you can capture the footprints of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros.
Zone Two jumps to the canopy zone of the paper forest with Creative Technology Director of ALAN Andy Stokes’ AI-generated interactive portrait, “97%”, which whimsically transforms visitors into orangutans to inspire empathy. Then, head over to the AI-generated dialogue installation, “Friska”, to converse with our orange-haired queen from the Suaq forest, whose voice is generated by a Sumatra-based orangutan research scientist.
Finally, Hong Kong artist Pauline Yau’s life-sized, 2m-long paper sculpture of the “Helmeted Hornbill” captures the remarkable form of this critically endangered bird, prized for its unique casque often found in premium jewelry and art pieces. Yau’s piece serves as a reminder that the pursuit of beauty and art shouldn’t come at the price of life.
In Zone Three is Dutch artist Leon Keer’s perspective mural and augmented reality visual art, “Gift of Nature”. Trek with the critically endangered Sumatran elephants and feel their surreal majesty. Leon himself will create this masterpiece onsite over the beginning of the exhibition to demonstrate how this perspective artwork is made.
Local creative team The Collective brings interactive visual installation, “The Void” to Zone Four: this all-white, empty and silent space is designed to spark curiosity to explore the major threat the Sumatran forests face – deforestation for palm tree plantations and human economic development – as well as their complex tensions with natural preservation.
In Zone Five, Hong Kong-based young illustrator Lamcat brings “The Sumatra Heritage Story” – a clever amalgamation of words and pictures that reveals the stories, challenges and hopeful future of this revered rainforest. Visitors will receive a postcard from any 5 paintings of Sumatra’s endangered animals designed especially by ALAN for this campaign.
