Event
Date / Term
August 26, 2022[Fri.] – September 11, 2022[Sun.]
10：00ー20：00
Closed on September 1st
https://www.kac.or.jp/eng/events/32523/
Venue
Kyoto Art Center Gallery South
https://www.kac.or.jp/eng/
Access:Yamabushiyama-cho 546-2, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8156 JAPAN
Tel:075-213-1000
Overview
Argentina-based artist Elisa Insua’s first solo exhibition in Japan, in collaboration with strata
KYOTO ART CENTER and strata Gallery are delighted to present Sugar Coated Lies by Argentinian artist Elisa Insua, an exhibition of new physical-digital artworks.
The new sculptures by Elisa Insua depict some of the most luxurious architectural buildings in the world; the most expensive private residency, Antilia House in Mumbai; the tallest building ever built, Burj Khalifa in Dubai; and Trump Tower in New York, a symbol of economic power in private hands. Employing luxury architecture as a framework through which to consider paradoxes of materialist temptations, Insua’s work looks beyond the architecture’s functional purposes and explores its role as a communicator of prevailing ideologies and measures of wealth.
Elisa Insua’s practice explores commodification through the lenses of economics, overconsumption and human insatiability. Her sculptural assemblages made of discarded objects inspire contemplation about the durability of everyday materials and anthropocentric pollution. The sculptures in Sugar Coated Lies were made from expired sugary treats, a medium that represents the temptation of consumption which provides instant but ephemeral satisfaction. With this unusual material, the artist gives a contemporary reading of the classic Grimm Brothers’ tale about Hansel and Gretel, in which children are lured to a candy house belonging to a cannibalistic witch. Similarly, with the three new artworks created for the exhibition, Insua accentuates the appetising treats as a symbol of human greed and temptation.
This new major body of work marks the artist’s experimentation with digital technologies; 3D modelling and Augmented Reality sculpture. During the process, Elisa Insua was guided by strata Creative Technology Studio and introduced to Blender, an open-source 3D design software and custom in-house tools. The artworks exist as hybrid physical-digital sculptures; three replicas of the buildings’ bases made of expired candy encased in resin and an AR experience allowing the viewers to see the entire structures. The physical artworks are each accompanied by a digital component. The digital experience invites the viewers to become active participants in Sugar Coated Lies, activate the buildings and place them in their own surroundings.
The three artworks along with a limited series of smaller-sized pieces are for sale and will be available to purchase via the Sugar Coated Lies website. All owners will gain exclusive artworks to strata’s mobile application and will be able to enjoy the hybrid physical-digital experience of Elisa Insua’s works.
