Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

On View: Henrique Oliveira’s Immersive Installation “Transarquitetônica”

Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira regularly works in both painting and installation, but his latest work at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, "Transarquitetônica," may be one of his most fascinating ones yet. Viewers are literally able to immerse themselves in the piece, as Oliveira has crafted a seeming endless maze of tunnels made from warped plywood and rigid concrete. The tightly packed lumber gives the surreal structure eye-catching texture and surface as the viewer is taken out of their normal environment. "Transarquitetônica" will remain on view through November 30, 2014. In the video below, the artist discusses his process of scavenging materials for and creating such a massive structure. Watch after the jump.

Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira regularly works in both painting and installation, but his latest work at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, “Transarquitetônica,” may be one of his most fascinating ones yet. Viewers are literally able to immerse themselves in the piece, as Oliveira has crafted a seeming endless maze of tunnels made from warped plywood and rigid concrete. The tightly packed lumber gives the surreal structure eye-catching texture and surface as the viewer is taken out of their normal environment. “Transarquitetônica” will remain on view through November 30, 2014. In the video below, the artist discusses his process of scavenging materials for and creating such a massive structure.

Meta
Related Articles
Design collective Numen/For Use was incepted in 1998 as a way for its members — industrial designers Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler and Nikola Radeljković — to push the boundaries of architecture, design and conceptual art. They've collaborated on everything from furniture design to elaborate installations that invite the viewers to break the norms of how they ordinarily interact with space. Rarely do we see adults take off their shoes to bounce and play, but Numen invites their audiences to do just that. Their latest piece, String in Vienna is an inflatable, bounce house-like structure with an elaborate grid of cords that allow viewers (more aptly, participants) to defy gravity. Their other recent works include a levitating cave made out of clear tape in Tokyo and another inflatable structure with hammock-like netting hung strategically for optimal bouncing in Yokohama, Japan.
The photo-realistic works by British artist Juliette Losq (covered here) are like a portal to another world. Losq’s oil paintings and drawings on paper of forests are unique in her aggressive treatment of the medium. Her upcoming solo exhibition, “Nemora”, opening September 12th at the Fine Art Society Contemporary in London, focuses on this act of chaos in the wilderness. Her three new installations for the show are inspired by Rococo imagery and 18th-19th century Gothic architecture, visual styles influenced by faith, wealth and power.
The easily stirred may want to avoid rooms transformed by Austrian artist Peter Kogler, whose funhouse-like creations place wild patterns and illusions inside various spots across the world. Kogler uses varying mediums and disciplines to accomplish this, from architecture and computer art to painting and sculpture. Each of these creations feel like a new reality, in which twisting and writhing shapes envelope the viewers.
Handcrafted with charcoal pencils and sticks on white paper, Marina Fridman's massive installation "Omniscient Body" is actually a single, enormous drawing. The piece, at 74-feet-by-14-feet, is installed at the Fosdick-Nelson Gallery at Alfred University, as part of the artist's MFA thesis exhibition. The celestial forms offer a chance "to approach the celestial body of Mars at their own scale, to be towered over by one of the rings of Saturn, and to look up at planet Earth and the Moon as though from a great distance."

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List