[3D: Double Vision] The past, present, and future of 3D: the Hyundai Project at LACMA
작성일2019.02.08이미지 갯수image 10

This 2019, Young Hyundai journalists visited LACMA for a closer look at how art and technology were interrelated and growing together.
175 years of seeing with both eyes [3D: Double Vision]

How do we actually perceive things in the third-dimension? Try this. Close your right eye and look at on object only with your left eye. Now do the opposite; close your left eye and gaze only with your right eye. The object surely did not move, but there is some perceived change in the location and even size of the object. This is a phenomenon caused by the distance between our two eyes. Our eyes perceive two separate but similar images from both eyes, then our brain combines the two images into a three-dimensional understanding.
3D: Double Vision project is an exhibition that highlights the 175-year history of how we became aware of and explored our perception of objects in the third dimension. The exhibition is a great opportunity to meet all the quintessential historical works in 3D film-making, VR, and AR. The exhibition hall presents a comprehensive collection of what's-what and who's-who of stereoscopy, more than 60 items spanning history from 19th to the 21st century. Despite over two centuries of history, it was interesting to see that people were exploring the same questions.

#Mirror Stereoscope, a pair of mirrors where it began

When used, the left eye saw only the image on the left through the mirror on the left, and vice versa. It was not immediately obvious, but after several blinks, the two-dimensional stairs suddenly popped out into the third-dimension.
“This phenomenon is called the illusion of depth. It's a simple-looking exhibit, but it conveys an illusion through the subtle difference between the two images on the left and the right, through accurately spaced and well-placed mirrors. Most importantly, it was the first step to understanding how our impression of solidity is gained by the combination in the mind of two separate pictures of an object taken by both of our eyes from different points of view."
#Platonic Solids, not everything that meets the eye

"An artwork like this piece is connected to conceptualism. It is about how we are in fact not looking at actual existing objects, but phantoms within our minds, illusions, and images of the virtual. In that sense, this piece combines modern art, optical technology, and cognitive science."
As the theme of three-dimensionality deals with our cognitive processes, artists are also well-versed in related fields such as optics, computer sciences, cognitive science, and analytical studies. Charles Wheatstone who created Mirror Stereoscope was for example, a scientist and an engineer, widely respected during his time as a man of breadth and depth of knowledge. The last artist that Nicholas introduced had quite the unique background. He told the team about the Hamiltons, the husband and wife who were a physician and spiritualists.
#Stereoscopic Photography, ritual conjuring of souls

At the end of the tour, Nicholas said that the bottom line of 3D: Double Vision was to share the 175-year story of people and their questions, explorations and challenges on the illusion of perceiving images on flat surfaces as three-dimensional images. This photo shows that 3D photography straddles both the artistic realm and the scientific realm of proof. Despite many of the presented works being completely experimental and even outrageous, they were meaningful in their challenge of the unknown. The tone of the exhibition revolved around being unafraid of challenges and exploring uncharted waters, and it was very much in touch with the Hyundai Motor Company's pioneering spirit.
Partnership for new art, The Hyundai Project

Britt Salvesen, the exhibition curator of 3D: Double Vision was inspired to plan this exhibition when she saw the first 3D movie at the cinema. She shares that it was her curiosity if the 3D media and its history that drove her exhibition plan.

"The Hyundai Project, our long-term cooperation project with Hyundai Motor Company, gave LACMA an opportunity to expand its thoughts and experiment with further-reaching ideas. LACMA is an NPO, so a decade of partnership with Hyundai Motor Company opens up a lot of new possibilities without the need to rely on revenue, to present innovative and challenging new ideas and presenting them in exhibitions. Through the partnership, we were able to show the public a whole new kind of art, unlike past exhibitions."
The VP also expressed her appreciation of Hyundai Motor Company sponsoring the Art + Technology Lab (A + T Lab).
A + T Lab is LACMA's innovation project to explore, study, and create new art forms through convergence of art and technology. The program reaches out to artists breaking new ground in the convergence of cutting-edge technology and art, such as in the fields of astrophysics, robotics, AI, 3D, AR, and VR. You might call it a new-artist incubator, as the program provides artists with space, funding, equipment, and so on. Hyundai Motor Company is actively involved in this program, through various support systems, including technical consultations.

Future-oriented experience for all - the Global Art Project

'Hyundai Motor Company supports the creative activities the bridge cutting-edge new technologies. aspire to not only integrate the value of culture and art into automobile development and corporate governance, but also open a wide-spectrum discourse that delivers forward-looking experiences and values to our customers.'
Through this exhibition, we were able to finally get a good feel for one of Hyundai Motor Company's global art project. We look forward to seeing more from the forefront, where Hyundai Motor Company continues to bring together cutting-edge technology and art.
On a related note, Beyond Line: The Art of Korean Writing opens this summer, for LACMA's fifth and next The Hyundai Project. (http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/beyond-line) What insightful brilliance will the exhibition present of Korea's traditional art of calligraphy?





