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Hauser & Wirth announces new art and technology division with the launch of a custom-designed virtual reality platform
The ArtLab initiative will also offer a new tech residency programme for artists as blue-chip galleries race for digital dominance amid coronavirus lockdown
MARGARET CARRIGAN
9th April 2020 07:30 BST
Galleries across the globe are quickly scaling up their virtual offerings as the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic keeps their physical storefronts shuttered. For the big blue-chip dealers, this more often than not means launching digital platforms that have already long been in development.
Hauser & Wirth is the latest mega-gallery to unveil a virtual arm of its enterprise in the form of ArtLab, a new international initiative dedicated to developing projects at the crossroads of art and technology. Its first major development is a custom-built virtual reality (VR) modelling tool called HWVR, which will be used to present the gallery’s debut VR-based exhibition at the end of April. The show will also offer a virtually rendered preview of the gallery’s Menorcan outpost, which was announced last year and is slated to open as an artist residency and added exhibition space in 2021....
