In conjunction with the exhibition Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982, LACMA's Art + Technology Lab presents a two-part digital work by Casey Reas: a simulation of and homage to Victor Vasarely's unrealized proposal for LACMA's Art and Technology Program (1967–1971). Envisioned during a period in which Vasarely was interested in cybernetics and permutation, the proposal defined a machine composed of lights arranged in a grid that would generate millions of different visual patterns related to his paintings. Estimated to cost $2,000,000 USD to fabricate at the time, the project was deemed prohibitively expensive and was left unrealized. Commissioned by LACMA, Reas's response is presented in two parts. METAVASARELY, the first component, explores and simulates Vasarely's proposed machine, while the second, An Empty Room, consists of a software art homage to Vasarely, beginning with his ideas of a "binary plastic language" and continuing into unknown territory.
METAVASARELY
lacma.org (virtual)
An Empty Room
April 9–July 2, 2023
BCAM, Level 2 (on-site)
