Studer / van den Berg

For their first UK exhibition Swiss artists Monica Studer and Christoph van den Berg bring the 19th Century connection between English mountain climbers and Swiss alpine tourism into the digital age by creating an interactive portrayal of the mountain landscape from their childhood holidays.

Transforming BALTIC’s Level 2 gallery space, Studer/van den Berg have created a digital panorama from the fictitious Gleissenhorn mountain region where their virtual hotel Vue Des Alpes is located (www.vuedesalpes.com). Visitors to the exhibition will encounter a large-scale print, the full height of the space, portraying a scene in which they are invited to participate by sitting and enjoying the breathtaking view while their presence is captured on a live camera. The livecam puts visitors and scenery together in a fictitious montage and broadcasts the images on a website which can be viewed online at http://projects.balticmill.com for the duration of the exhibition (from 9 July until 4 September). Although the camera view of the installation can be accessed from home, those who wish to be in the digital illusion must visit the exhibition at BALTIC.

Working entirely from memory and using 3D modelling software packages, the artists have painstakingly authored the works in the exhibition. Package Holiday also includes a weather webcam, as well as a life-size projection of the Gleissenhorn waterfall. Package Holiday is a new commission curated by BALTIC. Monica Studer was born in 1960 in Zurich and Christoph van den Berg was born in 1962 in Basel. The artists have been collaborating on new media projects since 1991 and on internet projects since 1996. Studer/van den Berg’s recent work includes a Landis & Gyr Foundation residency, during which they built an installation for the Swiss Pavilion at the 2005 World’s Fair in Aichi Japan. www.vuedesalpes.com

Pressetext

Monica Studer & Christoph van den Berg - Package Holiday
Studer / van den Berg
Kurator Sarah Cook