Mixed Bag

A leading Swiss wealth management group recently launched new artworks by six winners of the second edition of the Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize in a unique virtual showcase.

The newly completed digital artworks were featured within an immersive ‘meta-world’ that envisions a futuristic floating city in Asia. These captivating creations delve into human connections in a world increasingly driven by AI, data and technology while drawing inspiration from the megatrend themes of Future Cities, Digital Disruption and Sustainability.

Through their innovative approach, these artworks not only address real-world challenges but also shed light on the trends shaping our future. As part of the prize, the winners participated in a three-month Art and Technology Accelerator programme, the first of its kind in Asia, where they completed their artworks based on their winning concept proposals. The programme provided resources and mentorship from the prize’s panel of industry experts, enabling the artists to develop their ideas and push the boundaries of digital art.

‘Pathfinder’ by Indian multimedia artist Viraag Desai is a digital re-envisioning of traditional relief. The scenes have been sculpted in VR using voxel tools and generative geometry, and are inspired by muralists and craftspeople of the past. “The project draws from the history of sculpture and tells stories of society and its evolution through ‘making’, with interactive multiple-choice elements that encourage repeat viewing. Each choice focuses on a particular material and takes the viewer through the fabrication process to civilisation in each section,” explained Desai.

‘Future Retro Future’ by Singaporean experimental illustrator André Wee re-envisions a new retro-future as it draws upon nostalgia and offers a counterbalance to technological overload while promoting sustainability and cultural heritage and enabling alternative visions of the future. “It allows us to reflect on the past, engage with the present, and shape a more thoughtful and inclusive future. My art is focused on stylised scenes of this reimagined future and explores what life could be or look like in these alternative realities; this can, in turn, inspire our path forward,” said Wee.

‘Algorithm Actually’ by Hong Kong-based mixed-media artist Natalie Wong is a digital artwork that uses an individual’s dating app data to generate a 3D motion dynamic artwork, visualising expressions of human connections. Using data from an individual who met their partner on a dating app, the most commonly used words adopted by the couple during their conversations were analysed and then used to generate the artwork. “The conversation between two people has transformed abstract words into a uniquely co-created entity of meaning and significance — the rare human spark of finding meaning and connection with another person within our digital landscape,” said Wong.