Virtual Reality Blurred Boundaries: Enter This Exhibition Through The Headset

Enter Through the Headset is a new exhibition of works by artists working in VR (virtual reality) to highlight the blurred boundaries between real and virtual experiences. The shows runs at London’s Gazelli Art House alongside Ben Tricklebank’s first UK solo show, Endec, and presents new virtual worlds by Iain Nicholls & Tom Szirtes, Matteo Zamagni, and SkullMapping, the artistic duo Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx.

Site specific work, Veil, created as a collaboration between Iain Nicholls and Tom Szirtes explores the concepts of recursion, alternate realities and space referencing the works of Diego Velazquez, Casper David Fredrick, Hans Holbein and early pioneers of film. Skullmapping presents The Styx a multi-sensory journey into the underworld inspired by the Greek myth of the river Styx. Matteo Zamagni mesmerizes the viewer with powerful geometrical and psychedelic patterns through his work, Nature Abstraction, which maps both biological forms and cosmic shapes.

The interactive artworks are accessible via three VR headsets on the first floor of the gallery. Matteo Zamagni’s work will be both featured in the physical space of the gallery and Gazell.io, the online artist residency program established last year. This parallel programming is the first one of its kind for the gallery.

“The intention of this ‘show within a show’ is to continue exploring non-traditional mediums in art, helping artists work within this field by creating a sustainable exposure and nurturing the cross-over between technology and art – a growing area of interest for the gallery over the past two years,” says Mila Askarova, Director of Gazelli Art House.

The works will be accompanied by digital certificates of authenticity, powered by Verisart, a new platform to certify and verify artworks using blockchain technology. Verisart, is the first ever platform for certifying and verifying artworks and collectible’s on the world’s most secure, decentralized register, enables artists to create, share and display certificates of authenticity. The Styx river in Greek mythology is believed to have formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. Exhibiting artists have been invited to take part in the online residency Gazell.io, providing a reversal in the

Gazelli Art House supports and presents a wide range of international artists, pre- senting a broad and critically acclaimed program of exhibitions to a diverse audience through international exhibition spaces in London and Baku. Gazelli Art House was founded in 2003 in Baku, Azerbaijan where it held exhibitions with Azeri artists. From 2010, having hosted conceptually interlinked off-site exhibitions across London, founder and Director of Gazelli Art House, Mila Askarova, opened a permanent space on Dover Street, London in March 2012. That same year, Window Project launched utilising the frontage of the gallery as additional display platform. In 2015, the initiative was remodelled to solely accommodate art school graduates through open call competitions three times a year. As part of Gazelli Art House’s on-going commitment to art education, the gallery hosts a series of events and talks to run alongside each exhibition. 

Image: Matteo Zamagni In collaboration with David Li, Daniel Ben Hur Nature Abstraction  2015 Courtesy Gazelli Art House Photography: Peter Mallet

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