The covers record has long been a favorite of musicians, a chance to update, re-imagine or pay homage to songs of old. London's new Remastered exhibition is applying that same format to art. Housed in One Marylebone, a monumental 18th Century church, Remastered explores the relationship between art and technology by taking some of the most famous pieces from history and reinterpreting them for a modern audience.
The exhibition is a collaboration between London art collective jotta and Intel, as part of its Visual Life campaign. At its heart is the desire to show that the click of a mouse or the push of a button can be just as expressive as the stroke of a paintbrush. Reinterpreted classics range from the "Venus de Milo" all the way through to Picasso's "Guernica."
Ben James, jotta's Head of Creative explained to the gathered masses on opening night,"The broad range of work and outcomes exhibited within Remastered help demonstrate how technology is being adopted practically and conceptually by artists and designers across all disciplines. The intersection of technology and art has gone far beyond its creation on a computer to a symbiotic relationship -- one where new technology offers new opportunities to the artist or designer".
Guests are first greeted by Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night," its swirly brush-strokes now transformed into a constellation of electronic lights that map each viewers position. The incongruous presence of broadcasting legend Terry Wogan gesticulating in front of it lent a touch of the bizarre to my arrival.
Elsewhere, sound, sculpture and animation artist Lung playfully takes "The Scream" and turns it into an installation piece of lurid bricks, TV screens and looping animation. Lung (real name Chris Harris) said his reinterpretation was based on "The Scream"'s "brutality, and the disconnection between that and the way it exists in popular culture." Sure enough there are nods to Scream the movie and Macaulay Culkin's screaming face in Home Alone.
The most striking work on display is Rafael Pavon's reworking of Caspar David Friedrich's "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog." On a large screen, and with the aid of 3D glasses, "Wanderer" becomes an almost Banksy-esque urban landscape, panning back and back before revealing the wanderer himself above the sea of fog. A warm, relevant and accessible update of a classic. Not every piece hit such high notes. Food experimenters Bompas + Parr's recreations of famous last suppers was unfortunately only displayed in photographic form, when the real things would have been way more impactful (though they did supply absinthe jellies for the occasion). Generally though, the works are given thoughtful and approachable makeovers that are well shown off by the grand environment.
Remastered's central location, fleeting nature (it's open until March 13th) and unique takes on the well-known should ensure lively crowds.