Art display, more than just a photograph spot

Initially, art display is intended as an interactive display to communicate with the audience. Take, for example, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Room. Due to its high popularity, the art installation turned into a prime picture spot. Another exhibition, Wave of Tomorrow, returned for the second year in 2019 after the previous year’s exhibition received significant attention.

Display or installation has always been around. The simplest example is billboard. However, its integration to art only happened over the past few years in Indonesia. “If you look at advertising agencies overseas, they have incorporated a lot of experimental programs in their campaigns, while in Indonesia, it only started in 2013,” said Digital Nativ founder Miebi Sikoki.

Image: Digital Nativ Founder Miebi Sikoki

Unlike typical screens used for commercial purposes, lighting installations for the art industry require specific customisation from screens to build and structure. That is because the ready to use solutions in the market are expensive, even if it’s something as simple as projecting design into multiple screens.

“Let’s say an artist wants to make an installation using seven screens, where the image going across these screens, but there are only six screens available on the market. That means the artist is forced to remove a screen from the initial design and cater to what’s available. They can either get a big computer or get a very specialised hardware that happens to be limited.”

Customisation allows the system to be modular. The studio could design something that fits the artistic needs. “If you need four displays, we’ll design you something that has inputs. We can integrate touchscreen play a video through a flash drive. Make it very easy to set up and manage.”

Placement and audience have to be taken into consideration, too. Plenty of behavioural research like people’s reaction to certain art piece goes behind the process because it involves new technology. “You have to study research conducted by universities and read research papers to understand what people are doing.”

The knowledge gained from research is then transferred to the implementation. “If the installations are placed outdoors, it needs to be waterproof in case of rain and spillage. It has to be tough in order to stay durable. We have to design it accordingly to where the piece would be and how heavy the traffic for the piece will be.”

The process of building a piece goes through several stages. It starts with planning out the components and architecture of the art piece, followed by communicating the design with the hardware programmers, fabrication team and electronic engineers.

“Their work is parallel to each other. Each department is tackling different aspects, but everybody needs to be involved.”

The team also has to keep in mind that each and every client has different needs. Before the art is sent to the fabrication team, the client has to agree to the prototype. 3D work with all the moving parts that takes a village to build requires upfront confirmation to minimally reduce revisions as small changes could send the process back to ground zero.

Adding features could mean adding more or switching components and changing the codes or materials. To tackle that, working closely with clients is crucial because every single part needs to be in line to what the client envisions.

There are trade-offs that both studio and client have to compromise. “If the installation is only for a couple of days, then it doesn’t need long-lasting materials. If the location will be in is going to be hit with a lot of traffic, then it needs to have a tight construction and durable materials. Constraints force designers to think creatively.”

With all the efforts going behind an art piece, installation is more than just ‘eye-candy’ or glorified photobooth.