Award: CPH:DOX INTER:ACTIVE Award 2024   ·   Shows: UnNatural Encounters at Silent Green (Berlin) 09-19 Jan 2025, Immersive Section at Thessaloniki Film Festival (Thessaloniki) 31 Oct - 10 Nov 2024, Néo-matérialités at Le Cube Garges (Garges-lès-Gonesse) 27 Mar - 17 Jul 2024, CPH:DOX INTER:ACTIVE (Copenhagen) 13-24 Mar 2024, RIXC (Riga) 05 Oct - 17 Nov 2023   ·   Partner: Anna Fišere (music)   ·   Funding: EMAP, Danish Arts Foundation   ·   Thanks: Victoria Abramova (appearing in photos and video)

Immaterial matters.

Intangible investigates the oddly satisfying sensation of touching simulated natural phenomena while calling attention to the controversial idea of reconnecting with nature through computational means.

While our relationship with nature is in crisis, we attempt to satisfy our primal longing for the displays of nature with artificial mimicry using technological gadgets. This paradoxical return to nature places us at an awkward position between realities, where simulated stimuli are designed to strike a bond with the natural world that seems increasingly remote.

In this sensory experience, you are invited to explore a series of algorithmic natural phenomena with your hands. Each instance exhibits a perplexing metamorphosis and is accompanied by a musical piece by Latvian composer Anna Fišere.

“[…] There is one piece, though, that we believe fulfils all the provided criteria more than the rest. The criterias were Artistic Quality, Originality, Imagination, Intellectual quality and Stickiness. The winner is…. an immersive experience that is a playful, physically convincing and instantly satisfying experience that challenges the expression of contemporary art and left the jury wanting to come back for more. Overall, the fidelity of this piece is second to none. Normally you cannot touch a sculpture but here you are part of interacting with it and drawn into it. It has a natural adaption of the sound design created by Anna Fišere for the piece, and is a beginning of a new chapter of the future of art. […]” ~ CPH:DOX Inter:Active Award 2024 Jury [source].

“[…] Put plainly, Carlsen has rather ingeniously found a way to both fascinate his audiences with cutting-edge new media technology and to remind them of what they are missing out on by standing indoors with a headset on. […]” ~ STIR World: Carl Emil Carlsen places audiences at the threshold of a virtual environment, Nov 18, 2023 [source].

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