Digital art platform EXPOBLVD presents Fons Americanus by Kara Walker
News release
EXPOBLVD brings unmapped lands of contemporary art directly to you with a hand-picked selection of cutting-edge exhibitions translated to immersive 360-degree experiences.
EXPOBLVD is a new subscription-based digital platform featuring 360-degree immersive maps of the most exciting and creative international art exhibitions. Exploring everything from museums to galleries, to art spaces and alternative centers, these exhibitions will be offered to visitors on a rotating monthly basis for a curated feed of the numerous gems of contemporary art in the world.
After featuring the solo show from visual artist Federico Herrero at Museum of Contemporary Art Niteroi in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, EXPOBLVD crosses back over the Atlantic and lands in the United Kingdom for its next featured exhibition. Opening online on 7 July 2020, EXPOBLVD presents the site-specific public sculpture Fons Americanus by the visionary artist Kara Walker. Fons Americanus is the Hyundai Commission for the immense and iconic Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London, installed in October 2019. It is a 13-meter tall working fountain, inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace in London, but serving instead as a ruthlessly satirical ode to the dubious prospects of Empire and the catastrophic practices of the transatlantic slave trade. Walker designed Fons Americanus using sustainable methods in the production process, composing it with renewable materials for an environmentally conscious stance.
Kara Walker is one of the most important and discussed artists of her generation. Her primary concerns are race, gender, sexuality and violence. She is distinguished by her drawings and her trademark silhouetted figures depicted in grotesque situations that have troubled historical resonance. Walker won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1997, and in 2012 she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. EXPOBLVD presents this incredible large-scale public project as an interactive 360-degree map for the first time to a global online public.
The virtual map of Fons Americanus will be available on EXPOBLVD throughout the month of July. Visitors will be able to approach this sublime creation, to appreciate it from multiple angles, and to walk through numerous points in Turbine Hall, which each offer 360-degree views. These movements are enacted in a simple manner through directional clicks on a mouse, arrows on a keyboard, or swipes on mobile devices. The entire interface is designed to be minimal and seamless and to approximate the field of vision of the human eye and positioning of the body as it would move through the actual spaces that are mapped.
In this era of overconsumption, when many are looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle, EXPOBLVD reduces carbon footprints and does the traveling for you. EXPOBLVD practices slow curation to promote slow art appreciation as a way to engage deeper, to spend quality time rather than submit to an economy of constant distraction. Visitors will have access to one 360-degree mapped exhibition every month and are invited to take their time with it, to return to it, to explore new ways of seeing and appreciating. Archived exhibitions will also be made available on demand for repeat viewing.
During this unprecedented global health crisis EXPOBLVD remains open and freely accessible to all. Subsequently a subscription-based system will be implemented, and for a monthly charge less than the cost of a museum ticket visitors will be able to access each exhibition map as well as the archive of past exhibition maps. Details on this subscription model are forthcoming, as well as details on related programming in development from EXPOBLVD.
Beautiful exhibitions with brilliant artists at unique spaces in exciting cities. EXPOBLVD can put you there, before, during, and after the run of the show. Start your new journey today. See you at the next stop on EXPOBLVD.
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