CATALOGUE 5.0 guest edited by Daniel Birnbaum is out now. Download the magazine and preview Cork Street’s first AR exhibition

CATALOGUE, the journal for contemporary art published by Cork Street Galleries, an initiative from the Pollen Estate, invites Acute Art director Daniel Birnbaum as guest editor for edition 5.0. Titled The Electronic Hydra, the publication is devoted to the impact of new visual technologies on art and its institutions. This special-edition sees Birnbaum introduce the term – realised by himself and Hans Ulrich Obrist – to depict a many-headed monster that spreads its seemingly interminable extremities across the globe. A series of drawings of the Electronic Hydra by Hans Ulrich Obrist is published for the very first time.

Considering AR, VR and Mixed Reality, the issue features artist Cerith Wyn Evans, who talks Duchamp and publishes new work from an ongoing manuscript; multidisciplinary architect Elizabeth Diller on trailblazing vision and Cedric Price’s unrealised Fun Palace; Tomás Saraceno’s fascinating bio and tech-diverse study of spiders, and an academic rumination on digital chrono-topology by philosopher Yuk Hui.

Continuing from CATALOGUE 5.0, where latent works by Julie Curtiss, Koo Jeong A, Precious Okoyomon and Tomás Saraceno stand-by to manifest in the reader’s immediate surroundings, the first-ever AR exhibition on Cork Street is curated by Birnbaum and will launch during Frieze London 2021.

Titled Electronic Hydra Prelude, this show-in-the-street arrives in Mayfair via QR codes and the Acute Art app. Invisible to the naked eye, it blurs boundaries between the real and virtual.

Julie Curtiss, Lune, 2021, augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art

In her work Lune, 2021, Julie Curtiss examines intimacy and privacy in public, depicting a nude woman with her back turned. To the frustration of the viewer, she constantly avails our gaze, actively challenging the spectator. Viewable from the corner of Cork Street Mews, Lune is Curtiss’ first work in AR.

Precious Okoyomon, Ultra Light Beams of Love, 2021, augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art

Poet, artist and 2021 Frieze Artist Award winner Precious Okoyomon presents Ultra Light Beams of Love, 2021. The work sees two large, animated flowers reciting poetry which explores themes of race and sexuality. Originating from drawings by the artist, the flowers have become living fractal AR pieces which engage with one another and the viewer. The artwork is triggered at No.9 Cork Street, the home of Frieze’s new exhibition space.

Koo Jeong A, OLO, 2021, augmented reality. Courtesy of the artist and Acute Art

Installation and mixed-media artist Koo Jeong A presents OLO (2021), an architectural work of a minimal cube that refracts sunlight and reflects its environment. On the outside, a minimal structure is evident, yet the participant discovers an entirely new universe within. Typical of the artist, the work relies on chance to drive its encounters and the connection of energies between place and people. The work is triggered on Cork Street.

Tomás Saraceno, Bagheera kiplingi*, 2021, augmented reality. Courtesy Tomás Saraceno and Acute Art.

Hyper-visible, invisible spiders by Tomás Saraceno blends augmented reality with real life. Bagheera kiplingi*, 2021, is the only known vegetarian spider. Unlock Bagheera kiplingi* by taking a picture of a Spider/Web you find. Make sure not to hurt or damage anything. As a reward receive Tomas Saraceno’s AR artwork Bagheera kiplingi* x Spider/Webs and receive the location of the hidden giant spider – somewhere in London.