Digital Wallpaper Meets Architecture and Art in Venice Biennale’s CHAOS//LOOP 2023 Exhibition
The often difficult relationship between art or artists and algorithms will be at the center of an exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale, entitled “CHAOS//LOOP 2023”. Developed by Christof Babinsky, CEO of ASB GlassFloor, the exhibition will include ten works of art using digital technology and exhibited on LED panels called “Digital Wallpaper,” which also extend the scope of architectural design and are now being put into a new context in Venice.
Fittingly, Christof Babinsky’s debut in the art scene will take place at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 within of the scope the exhibition “Time Space Existence,” which focuses on NFTs and documents their manufacturing process – an area that has long since caught Babinsky’s interest. Even whilst he was still studying “Sustainability and System Management” in 2008, he had already carried out experiments at the interface of new technologies and traditional art via the medium of photography.
Whether as a businessman, artist or an inspirer of architecture solutions, he has always been driven by technology and its possibilities. His works for the Biennale also play with these themes: for the ten NFT exhibits entitled CHAOS//LOOP 2023, he used the medium of a “digital camera” to create unpredictable chaos creations by pointing a camera at its own screen. This produces a visual feedback loop, fed by various images, such as pictures by other artists or the flame of a lighter. The process results in chaotic yet hypnotic patterns generated autonomously. Babinsky then meticulously analyses them and selects from the consolidation of these artworks. Physical objects persist as moving images through the use of a digital camera employed on the basis of the feedback principle. It is a fascinating interplay between the digital and the analog world aimed at discovering the unknown in art.
Innovative LED technology
Babinsky’s “canvas” for his NFT works of art is an innovation that of his own development: the ASB GlassFloor “Digital Wallpaper,” which makes it possible to project different images onto wall areas with the aid of LED technology. It offers high-quality architectural surfaces that permit the presentation of art and digital contents as an integral component of the interior design or the architecture.
“What we are doing is simple: we are using LEDs in the way they are usually used for advertising purposes,” explains Christof Babinsky. “Initially, we used this innovative idea in the sports area, where the floor of a hall can be converted from a handball to a volleyball court at the push of a button, for example. Then we realized that the scope for the use of this technology is considerably wider.” For Babinsky and his team, it’s all about creating spatial experiences. They make it possible for architects and designers to satisfy the human desire for variety, and to utilize spaces in a multifunctional way. They can also promote interaction or inspire emotions. The glass area is extremely versatile, as it is both scratch-resistant as well as easy to maintain, robust, easy to clean and reflection free. “It also has a matte finish,” explains Babinsky, “so you never see a single LED, but always the whole image. The glass surface, which is backlit by light spots, therefore looks like a canvas. The image on this digital canvas can either be detailed or more grainy, depending on the chosen pixel pitch.”
For architecture and art: the Digital Wallpaper
The Digital Wallpaper technology can be used in a wide scope of areas. For example, in a restaurant, you could be sitting in a different city every night: one evening beneath the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the next in the Californian sun – even though the restaurant always remains stationary. Pop-up stores could change their offer every week without any conversion work whatsoever, working as an interactive commercial space. Even work environments could be designed more attractively for employees. The innovative technology can enrich educational offers in museums, as well as shopping malls, stations and airports.
With CHAOS//LOOP 2023, Christof Babinsky has added another aspect to the spectrum of uses, and has combined a technical innovation with his artistic vision at the interface of architecture and design. This step will be shown to a wider public for the first time at the Palazzo Mora, within the scope of the Architecture Biennale. Christof Babinsky is represented by the gallery xcircle, which is specialized in digital art.