Exhibition at VCUarts Qatar to Combine Art and Music in Augmented Reality Experience

The Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) in Education City will be hosting an exhibition that combines augmented reality, art, and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach from an album by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, to give visitors a unique and immersive audio-visual gallery experience.

The opening reception for the exhibition, titled, “Into the Light” will take place at 6pm on January 15, and will start with a panel discussion titled, “Art + Technology: How do artists use it to shape their craft and the way their audiences experience it?”

All are welcome to attend.

At the exhibition, visitors will be provided with augmented reality handsets and headphones that will immerse them in a world of 3D art and classical music that responds to their movements.

Artist Sougwen Chung created six original 3D drawings and sculptures to blend virtual and physical spaces. Visitors to the exhibition can point the provided handsets at her artwork which is accompanied by the recordings of Yo-Yo Ma that matches the user’s movement in relation to the given artwork.

The six pieces of art will be on display in the Gallery and surroundings, allowing the visitors to move freely around the area using the augmented reality handsets, while listening to the music.

Yo-Yo Ma’s rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor” will be played through the provided headphones. This work is from Ma’s 2018 recording, Six Evolutions.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Bahaaeldin Abudaya, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Fire Station Artists in Residence; with Jessica Brillhart, the Director of the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, and the founder of the independent XR studio, Vrai Pictures; and Myriam Achard, Chief, New Media Partnerships and PR at Centre Phi.