Pia MYrvOLD at .NO Gallery

The scene at .NO Gallery in the Lower East Side was a sober sight this morning as artist Pia Myrvold and I entered. Last night was the opening of her current exhibit Immersion, which left behind empty bottles and the air of a successful event. The gallery manager arrived, and our conversation soon revolved around pushing boundaries through digital art and the use of 3D technology, taking inspiration from centuries of sculpture, and moving art into "our time" through animation and technology.

Pia MYrvOLD (her media signature, based on how New Yorkers pronounced her last name, myworld, when she first came to visit 10 years ago) has been breaking boundaries in the world of art and design since the early 90s, when she was a fashion designer. Originally from Norway, she now lives in Paris. She has always been interested in the idea of interactive artwork and her new project takes sculpture into the 21st century.

Immersion, showing at .NO Gallery through March 3, was started in 2010 for the Venice Biennale. She initially creates animated sculpture, then places these sculptures in 3D landscapes. Pia does not prefer print to video, but rather uses both mediums as a way to discover the different experimentations both can create. She describes her primary instinct as an exploration into 3D media. Her animated sculptures, which she creates through 3D technology, are constantly forming, molding, and moving through out both her video work and her print work. Although her pieces at .NO are on a somewhat small scale, she currently has another show in Los Angeles at the Center for Digital Art showing through February 25 that features pieces in their intended scale: videos take up several monitors and the print work is wall to wall and floor to ceiling.

Pia MYrvOLD has always been interested in connections between multi-surface works and the interaction the viewer can experience from these connections. Immersion is the first stage in creating her final piece, Tunnel Vision, which she hopes to complete by 2013. Tunnel Vision will be a walk-through structure 35 feet long and 14 feet tall. Glass flooring will allow the video to stream through the structure and monitors will surround all sides and ceiling with her work. Pia MYrvOLD's work is not only ground breaking, but exciting to view, and worth checking out when your in the Lower East Side. ALL PHOTOS BY NATALIE MARCOUX.