VIRTUAL BLOOM
NO-PLACE LIKE THE FUTURE 2020
Collaboration between Julia Koerner and Austin Fields 2020
3D-Printed and Glass Blowing Technique
Through a variety of material investigations Julia Koerner and Austin Fields create synthesis between two distinctive technologies. Julia specialises in cutting-edge computational design and 3D-printing, while Austin specialises in non-traditional glass-blowing techniques. The convergence of these processes and virtual collaboration in this unprecedented time lead to the creation of 18 designs in which they investigate ‘duality’. They are interested in texture & pattern, reflections & light & fluidity. ‘Virtual Bloom’ speaks directly to the unique circumstances and challenges they are currently facing as artists and their ambition to inspire and connect through these new times.
JK x AF 2020
The Coronavirus pandemic has not only caused wide-spread suffering on an unprecedented scale, put millions of our jobs at risk, and disrupted – among many other things – our global travel and trade patterns. It has put our entire way of life into question. Even though we hope to eventually overcome the disease itself, we all feel that the world after Corona might never be the same. But the future doesn’t just happen - we create it. Artists in their capacity as futurists are now needed more than ever. But they need us too. With no perspectives to show their art and engage with their audiences, artists are existentially threatened. They need to be connected to other human beings, to their fellow artists, and to the world as a whole in order to be themselves.
Thus the Austrian Embassy and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington DC, the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, the Austrian Consulate General in Los Angeles and Open Austria, Austria’s innovation office in Silicon Valley, have created this project “No-Place Like the Future”with the aim to bring Austrian and American artists (back) together, invite them to jointly work on a new piece of art – and thereby create a brighter future for all of us.
Text via No- Place Like The Future
Photographs by Julia Koerner and Austin Fields