TEXT:

loook&&feel | surfacestricture is the first solo exhibition in the U.S. by Dutch artist Lilian Kreutzberger. Kreutzberger’s ongoing practice seeks to make the ever-advancing relationship between digital and physical domains tangible. loook&&feel | surfacestricture examines the influences digital interfaces have on architectures of the material world. Visitors will encounter paintings, laser-cut wood compositions, and sculptural objects that ask: if digital space was initially designed to mimic the physical world, then how is the material world responding to the now digitally lived experience? Kreutzberger positions this inquiry by considering both systems of display used for the reception of art and the negotiation between built forms, urban design, and historical architectural theory.

“Look-and-Feel” is a phrase used in graphic user interface design (GUI). At the advent of personal computing, GUIs were designed to mimic visual aspects and spatial (physical) dynamics of a 3-D world. This is referred to as skeuomorphism–where the representation of objects like file folders, trash bins, and photo frames are enhanced with beveled edges, textures, drop-shadows, and recognizable surfaces on digital screens. In loook&&feel | surfacestricture, objects are comprised of materials used to accentuate (often ornamentally) the physical architecture of interior spaces, like molding, plaster tiles, neon and LED lighting, and faux textures and patterns that are applied to various surfaces. The use of these folly features points to early GUI design in that the spatialization of the digital domain was intended to establish trust through perceived familiarity. 

At first glance, loook&&feel | surfacestricture appears familiar, like an amalgamation of commercial and museum displays: plinth-like platforms support objects, lighting effects direct visual attention, and frames set images apart from the walls on which they are mounted. Yet Kreutzberger subtly reconfigures these devices, stripping them of their functionality, and collapsing distinctions between art, display, and architecture. Similarly, Kreutzberger incorporates building plans into digitally cut and printed works where the outcomes appear to transform the architectural blueprints into city plans or relief maps. In her painting and photographic techniques, she fuses the natural and artificial in disorienting visuals of marble that seem to drip onto and in between surfaces and materials. As Kreutzberger explores the threshold between the digital and the physical, her painting, sculpture, collage and photographic works are bound by the materials of the physical world but are imbued with the limitless and fluid qualities of the internet via the screen.

Special thanks to Dr. Afroditi V. Filippas, Tassos Karles, Nava Levenson, and Eric Millikin.

This project is supported by ARCHITECTUREFIRM, Richmond, VA; the Mondriaan Fonds; and the Netherland-America Foundation.

PROGRAM:

Artist Talk with Park Myers
Saturday, March 5, 11:30 am

PRESS:
Bridging Worlds podcast brings you stories and conversations on Dutch American heritage, relations, and the Dutch American experience. Bridging Worlds is a podcast by the Netherland-America Foundation. (forthcoming)