Hauser & Wirth's ArtLab Will Host Shows & Residencies in Virtual Reality

Museums and galleries worldwide are resorting to digital offerings to support their artists as the coronavirus pandemic keeps their physical spaces in lockdown. Following its online exhibition with George Condo, Hauser & Wirth now spearheads a much more elevated, virtual installment in the form of ArtLab. This international initiative is dedicated to producing projects that merge the worlds of art and technology.

One facet of Artlab is a virtual reality (VR) modeling tool dubbed HWVR. It will be used to display the gallery’s forthcoming, VR-based exhibition at the end of April. The show will also feature an immersive online version of the gallery’s fledgling Menorcan outpost complete with artist residencies and exhibition spaces for 2021.

“Given the current situation, with so many in essential self-isolation, we are accelerating the launch of ArtLab’s programs with a new approach to virtual reality exhibitions that can engage as many people as possible and bring them together while we’re all apart,” the gallery’s co-president Iwan Wirth said in a statement.

The VR tool was conceptualized last summer, providing an all-encompassing platform for the gallery to showcase its programming through pixel-by-pixel construction and elevated, video game-like aesthetics. Visit Hauser & Wirth’s website to learn more about its ArtLab initiative.

Elsewhere in art, Japanese artist Tomokazu Matsuyama celebrates the Meiji Shrine Centennial with a massive 15-foot sculpture.