Walking through Second Nature presents a bit of a paradox. From solidified light and dissolving landscapes to imagery that changes with real-time weather data, there is evidence of technological intervention in the art all around. And yet each of the nine immersive installations steer clear of the cold and impersonal qualities associated with technology to evoke the ephemeral beauty of nature. Local ecosystems, human relationship with ecology and changing climate come alive in the works by Random International, teamLab, A.A.Murakami, Simon Heijdens and Es Devlin.
The exhibition, on display across four floors of Art House at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai, has been put together by Superblue co-founder Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst and head of curatorial, Margot Mottaz. “In the artists’ subversive hands, familiar and occasionally troubling technologies that increasingly permeate and mediate our lives are rendered sensorial, evocative and poetic—capturing the tension between agency and surrender, whether to algorithms or natural cycles of decay and rebirth,” write curators in their note.
The way each work is experienced depends on active viewer participation—the way you move through them, touch the panels or respond to the elements. According to Dent-Brocklehurst, co-founder, Superblue—a global platform dedicated to experiential art—one of the priorities while putting together Second Nature was to bring together artists, whose work creates an immediate and intuitive connection with the audience. Visitors need not have prior experience of contemporary immersive art to engage with these works; rather they need to simply follow their instincts. The curators believe that the initial encounter is often one of curiosity and wonder, followed by creation of a space for more nuanced ideas within the exhibition to unfold.
“Many of the works explore subtle questions around how technology is changing, the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us,” states Dent-Brocklehurst. “They invite us to think about the relationship between the physical and the digital, the natural and the artificial, and how our senses, behaviours, and even our identities are increasingly shaped by technological systems.” She believes that the title Second Nature reflects this idea on multiple levels. It refers both to behaviours that become instinctive over time and to a concept of nature that is continually being reshaped through innovation.
Coexistence of humans and nature
Different artists have interpreted this theme in their unique visual vocabularies. On the third floor, you find two installations by Simon Heijdens, a Dutch artist currently living in London, and A.A.Murakami, an artist duo based in Tokyo/London. Lightweeds by Heijdens, for instance, is an ever-evolving sensorial work. The artist creates an ecosystem of plants that live, move and grow to the real-time data of weather sensors placed outside the building. The fluid pulsating rhythm of nature finds a home within the manmade space. The work changes according to the local weather conditions and the movement of people in the space. Meanwhile A.A.Murakami’s New Spring (2017—ongoing) is an interactive tree-like sculpture that produces mist-filled blossoms, which burst upon contact with the skin.
On the second floor, the viewer gets a glimpse of Tokyo-based international art collective teamLab’s consistent exploration of the coexistence between humans and their environment. Ephemerality is key to their practice—no two visuals are replicated or repeated. Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together (2014—ongoing) carries this transient quality forward by rendering a floral ecosystem that blossoms and withers in real-time response to human presence. Then there is Resonating Microcosms—Solidified Light (2022—ongoing), which features an array of glowing, multicolour ovoid sculptures that emit sound when touched. Also interesting is Nirvana, “which reimagines an 18th-century Japanese painting by Ito Jakuchu. Built in a virtual 3D space and converted into teamLab’s signature ‘ultrasubjective space’, the artwork splits colour across tens of thousands of screen squares to evade the limitations of fixed perspective,” mentions the exhibition note.
Each of these installations responds to the site and introduces a distinct concept. The transitions between floors, particularly via the staircases, create natural moments of anticipation and reflection before encountering the next artwork. “As visitors move through the building, the architecture becomes part of the exhibition itself, supporting the sense of discovery and reinforcing the immersive nature of the experience,” states Dent-Brocklehurst. Her experience of leading an immersive art centre in Miami came in handy while curating this experience as she already had an insight into how audiences engage with these kinds of installations. That perspective helped shape practical discussions around presentation and visitor experience, while ensuring that the artist's intent remained at the forefront.
In recent years, there has been increasing conversation around the role of technology in artistic practices. Is technology being looked at as a co-creator or is it merely a medium? While curating Second Nature, Dent-Brocklehurst too mulled over these questions. As a result, in this exhibition, technology functions first and foremost as a medium, proving integral to how each artwork is conceived and brought to life. “At the same time, in certain works, it can also be understood as a co-creator. This is particularly true in the practices of teamLab, Random International and Simon Heijdens, where technological systems are not simply tools but active participants in generating a large part of artwork’s form,” she adds.
Both the curators feel that as technology becomes increasingly embedded in our everyday lives, it is inevitable that artists will continue to engage with it, not only as a creative medium but also as a subject of critical inquiry. “Thus rather than presenting technology as inherently positive or negative, the exhibition invites audiences to consider its potential, its complexities, and the new forms of perception and connection it makes possible,” elaborates Dent-Brocklehurst.