Maxim Zhestkov’s London studio is an emporium for the future. Located in the W1 Curates building, it has everything a digital art pioneer could dream of: a vast ground-floor space with floor-to-ceiling screens, multiple recording studios to meet every sonic need, and a huge warehouse floor-turned-VR playground. It’s here, while comfortably rooted on planet Earth, that Zhestkov hands me a VR headset, sends me to a different planet, and proceeds to rewire everything I thought I knew about art galleries.
This unearthly space is ‘Modules’, Zhestkov’s new playground for digital art. Blending sculpture, architecture, film and music, in this cavernous bespoke museum for the artist’s work, viewers are not viewers but participants.
‘Modules’ by Maxim Zhestkov: art meets gaming
Zhestkov’s practice orbits around how in digital space, we can abandon the logic of reality, and become liberated from its constraints. Gaming has been a long-term preoccupation for the artist, who grew up in Ulyanovsk, Russia, and studied architecture and graphic design at Ulyanovsk State University. ‘Gaming platforms have always been a source of fascination for me, and their capacity for creating immersive and captivating art is often underrated,’ says the artist, whose collaborators range from Google, PlayStation, Adobe, Nokia, Adidas and BMW, to art platforms and galleries such as W1 Curates, where Zhestkov exhibited last year, and Unit London, where he will unveil a solo show next month. ‘As I delved into the captivating worlds of gaming and art, I recognised that they were often perceived as distinct realms, evolving independently of one another. However, I couldn't help but notice the boundless potential that lay at their intersection.’
In the contemporary art world, the word ‘immersive’ is applied to almost anything involving a screen and a soundtrack. ‘Modules’ is submersive; taking body and mind through an 11-room network of space-age staircases, ledges, lifts and corridors, navigated by pinching your (real-world) fingers. Your earthbound body flinches as Zhestkov’s monumental sculptures sail past your face, almost squash you, and bend, dissolve, and warp around you. They are hyperreal digital simulations that mirror real-world physics, halfway between the gaming universe and real-world museum experience.
‘Modules’, which has been launched with Finnish virtual reality manufacturer Varjo, is an evolving project, expanding to contain Zhestkov’s entire body of work as it grows, blurring the boundaries between art, games, and reality and carving a new space for art in the metaverse.
Zhestkov’s mission for Modules is not modest; he hopes it’s the first step in ‘revolutionising the world of art’, in a fusion of art, technology, and human imagination. ‘With “Modules”, my immersive VR art space/gallery, I have created a unique platform that enables me to express my creativity, push the boundaries of artistic exploration, and redefine the future of artistic experiences.’
Modules is currently available to experience free of charge on the platforms Steam and Oculus. ‘I will incorporate new rooms and installations, each carefully designed to challenge the conventional norms of artistic expression’, says Zhestkov. ‘It is my firm belief that art should be accessible to all, and in pursuit of this ideal, I am excited to announce that soon, “Modules” will be available to everyone, free. This endeavour aims to democratise the world of digital art, inspiring countless individuals to engage with and contribute to this ever-expanding universe.’
Modules can be experienced via Steam and Oculus
Zhestkov will unveil a solo show at Unit London from 20 June - 22 July 2023. unitlondon.com
-
‘It was a golden age of design’: Adam Štěch on modernism’s enduring allureCzech architectural historian Adam Štěch, whose travelling ‘Elements’ exhibition is at MAK Vienna, on his odyssey to document the world’s modernist marvels, and what's next
-
Raw, refined and dynamic: A-Cold-Wall*’s new Shanghai store is a fresh take on the industrial lookA-Cold-Wall* has a new flagship store in Shanghai, designed by architecture practice Hesselbrand to highlight positive spatial and material tensions
-
Gucci’s new book is a love letter to London and its contradictionsPart of the ‘Gucci Prospettive’ series, Sabato De Sarno has drafted Charlene Prempeh and Lewis Dalton Gilbert of A Vibe Called Tech to curate an expansive portrait of their home city of London through a collage of artworks, photography and text
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connectionWallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
-
Julian Opie on VR, shuffle dancing and obsessive art collectingArtist Julian Opie reflects on life, work and turning London’s Lisson Gallery into a playground of VR (until 15 April). We explore his new show and peek behind the scenes of his London studio
-
Enter the mesmerising, AI-driven world of artist Refik AnadolRefik Anadol’s masterly use of data sets and AI models allows him to create dazzling ‘living paintings’, on display in MoMA’s Gund Lobby until 5 March 2023
-
Could Instagram’s algorithm curate an art exhibition? A new London show finds outWe’ve seen the debates surrounding AI-created art – but what about algorithmic curation? A new exhibition by University of Oxford researchers explores Instagram’s algorithm as a curator
-
A’strict: the South Korean digital art collective bringing nature to urban lifeAs part of our Generation Generative series, we spotlight a’strict, the artistic unit of South Korean digital media design company d’strict, whose immersive art aims to bring viewers closer to nature
-
Generative art: the creatives powering the AI art boomIt’s a new age for generative art, thanks to pixel-sorting, algorithm-sifting creatives. While the NFT market remains in flux, we delve into the rise of generative art, and the AI art boom
-
Universal Everything: the collective bringing mind-bending physicality to the digital spaceIn our new profile series, Generation Generative, we spotlight pioneers on the cutting edge of generative art. Our first feature is on Sheffield-based digital art collective Universal Everything, whose solo show ‘Lifeforms’ at 180 The Strand runs from 12 October – 4 December
-
Olafur Eliasson saturates Palazzo Strozzi in VR, illusion and Renaissance rationalityIn ‘Nel Tuo Tempo’, a major show at Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi, Olafur Eliasson bends perceptions of Renaissance architecture through dazzling site-specific installations
