<Virtual Reality, 2019>

The series ‘Bodypaint’ focuses on the question of how digital realities are created from procedures in the physical world. It marks the starting point for the development of CUBE. Banz & Bowinkel use recorded movements of a body performance session in the studio and translate this into an avatar, which then paints the movements as liquids in a virtual space. The originally physical movement is digitized and becomes the stimulus for the creation of completely virtual sculptures with the attributes of liquids. In their previously exhibited form as two-dimensional, computer-generated fine art prints, however, these works lose their ability to be physically experienced. In CUBE, the three-dimensional geometries of ‘Bodypaint’ can be experienced for the first time in their entirety in an immersive gallery environment without having to be translated or augmented into the physical world. The monumental sculpture of VR Bodypaint 01 is floating in the entry hall of CUBE, semi-transparent liquids in different colours, frozen and arranged as an immovable composition. The visitors are invited to view it from all sides, walk through it and climb on top of the sculpture.

Text by Roehrs & Boetsch