Decode Digital Design Sensations at the V&A

8th December 2009-11th April 2010

www.vam.ac.uk/decode

www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/Decode/

Weave Mirror, Daniel Rozin; Videogrid, Ross Phillips

Weave Mirror, Daniel Rozin; Videogrid, Ross Phillips

Fabrica’s Venetian Mirror

Weave Mirror, Daniel Rozin; Videogrid, Ross Phillips

Fabrica’s Venetian Mirror

Dandelion, YOKE and Sennep

Dandelion, YOKE and Sennep

Dandelion, YOKE and Sennep

bit.code, Julius Popp

bit.code, Julius Popp

Last week i went to the V&A to the Decode exhibition with students and staff from Digital Media Programme at Canterbury Christ Church University Broadstairs. I wasn’t sure what to expect and see. But i wanted to experience and see you new ideas and techniques using a combination of media. I wanted to take from the day inspiration and ideas to help me with my MA Project idea, as i was encouraged and challenged with my use of digital photography to try and look at social photography in a new light.

The latest developments in digital and interactive design are currently on show at Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A London. Pieces have been commissioned especially for the exhibition by the V&A in partnership with software specialists SAP, and sit alongside work by established designers, such as Daniel Rozin and Karsten Schmidt, as well as groups such as Troika and Fabrica.

Co-curated by Louise Shannon of the V&A and Shane Walter, director of contemporary arts organisation onedotzero, the V&A’s collaborative partner on Decode, the exhibition brings together many exciting new and recent pieces of work. A busy programme of hands-on tutorials and workshops is scheduled for the next three months – check the V&A microsite for details.

The exhibition is a celebration of digital design using a combination of photography, video, multimedia, web design and graphic visual arts. The exhibition shows the latest developments in digital and interaction from the last decade. The works on show include designers and artists such as Daniel Brown, Golan Levin and Daniel Rozin.

The exhibition explores three themes: Code showcases work that use computer code to create new artistic works; Interactivity highlights works that viewers can intereact with and influence; and Network focuses on works that use digital traces left behind by everyday communications, for example flight paths, and looks at how the internet have enabled new types of social interaction and collaboration.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and was struck by how popular, in particular, the Interactivity section was. Exhibition visitors engaged with works that allowed them to manipulate the digital works through movement or voice – a highlight in this genre was Daan Roosegaarde’s Dune with its rows of pulsating LED reeds at the entrance ; other works such as Fabrica’s Venetian Mirror or Ross Phillips’s Video Grid allowed for viewers to ‘be’ the artwork. The most successful piece of the exhibition was Daniel Rozin’s Weave Mirror, a beautiful grid that responds to viewers movements illustrating shadow and light. A disappointing aspect of the exhibition was the many exhibits that were not working, highlighting the need when working with technology for constant monitoring. Also it reminded me of the recent Guardian article on the rise of the camera phone and how exhibitions, amongst other cultural experiences, are being changed/damaged, depending on your point of view by the sea of camera phones being held aloft.

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