HAUSER & WIRTH presents 'beside itself', a VR exhibition at its future gallery in menorca

digital exhibition tour: HAUSER & WIRTH launches the gallery’s first entirely VR-based exhibition under the newly launched research and innovation arm, ArtLab. the group exhibition, entitled ‘beside itself’, takes place in the gallery of the future, HAUSER & WIRTH menorca, allowing visitors a first look at the art centre ahead of its opening in 2021. together with long-standing collaborator of the gallery, architect luis laplace, the gallery is conducting major conservation work to the island’s 18th century buildings. visitors are able to take a 3D tour of the exterior gallery building restorations as well as experience the exhibition created in HWVR — a first in virtual reality exhibition modeling, through the gallery’s website. 

ArtLab, HAUSER & WIRTH menorca exterior view created in HWVR, courtesy HAUSER & WIRTH

the HWVR exhibition ‘beside itself’ takes its title from a wall piece by lawrence weiner and brings together text-based works from the following artists: louise bourgeois, mark bradford, charles gaines, ellen gallagher, jenny holzer, roni horn, luchita hurtado, mike kelley, glenn ligon, damon mccarthy, paul mccarthy, bruce nauman, lorna simpson and lawrence weiner. spanning a period from the 1970s to the present day, these works explore the intersection of text and the visual image from bourgeois’s etching ‘le coeur est la’ to mark bradford’s bold printed words in ‘new york city’.

exterior view, ‘beside itself’, created in HWVR / screenshot via HAUSER & WIRTH

‘many of the best innovations are driven by necessity,’ says iwan wirth. ‘when we created ArtLab and first began developing the HWVR art experience, our primary goal was to create technology that would help our artists visualize the spaces where their exhibitions would be presented. we were equally motivated by a desire to plan exhibitions for our locations around the globe in a way that would reduce the amount of travel and transportation.’

installation view, ‘beside itself’, created in HWVR picturing charles gaines’s ‘librettos: manuel de falla/stokely carmichael, set 5’, 2015 and mark bradford’s ‘new york city’, 2019 and ‘chicago’, 2019 © the artists
courtesy the artists and HAUSER & WIRTH

‘given the current situation, with so many in essential self-isolation,’ wirth continues, ‘we feel this new approach to virtual reality exhibitions is especially relevant, will engage as many people as possible and bring them together while we’re all apart.’ ‘beside itself’ can be experienced via the gallery’s website, accessed by a computer, smart phone or using a VR headset such as google cardboard.

installation view, ‘beside itself’, created in HWVR picturing luchita hurtado’s ‘face for arcimboldo’, 1973 © luchita hurtado / courtesy the artists and HAUSER & WIRTH

installation view, ‘beside itself’, created in HWVR / screenshot via HAUSER & WIRTH

installation view, ‘beside itself’, created in HWVR picturing ellen gallagher’s ‘deluxe’, 2004-2005, mark bradford’s ‘chicago’, 2019 and lorna simpson’s ‘ice 4’, 2018 / © the artists
courtesy the artists and HAUSER & WIRTH

ArtLab, in software installation view of ellen gallagher’s ‘deluxe’, 2004-2005 and mark bradford’s ‘chicago’, 2019 created in HWVR, courtesy HAUSER & WIRTH © the artists
courtesy the artists and HAUSER & WIRTH

ArtLab, in software exterior view of HAUSER & WIRTH menorca created in HWVR, courtesy HAUSER & WIRTH

exhibition info:

title: beside itself
gallery: HAUSER & WIRTH
live date: april 30, 2020
location: online
video: ArtLab inaugural HWVR exhibition trailer, ‘beside itself’, HAUSER & WIRTH menorcafeatures louise bourgeois, maman, 1999 © the easton foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY; courtesy HAUSER & WIRTH

edited by nina azzarello

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