Art through an artist's lens: Digital creator Elise Swopes walks CBS2 through the Hall des Lumières
NEW YORK -- An immersive experience is taking the New York City art world by storm.
One exhibition, "Gustav Klimt: Gold in Motion," just opened this fall at Hall des Lumières and features custom-curated experiences. The digital art center, run by Culturespaces and IMG, is located inside of the former emigrant industrial savings bank on Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan.
Digital art creator and social media influencer Elise Swopes went through the digital immersive art center through her lens.
"This is an unbelievable experience. Art to me is about feeling and when you're in this space, there's nothing else but feelings that come to you. It's gorgeous," Swopes said.
Brooklyn-based Swopes knows a lot about the importance of creating and sharing digital art. The 33-year-old has been engulfed in the digital art world since she was 10, creating art mainly using apps on her phone.
"The reason why digital art connected with me so much is because I grew up with very young parents who didn't have very much, but what we did have is a computer that had access to having me be home-schooled, to be able to also utilize the different programs where I could undo, redo, paint, do as much limitless creativity as I wanted," Swopes said. "I felt like digital creation to me was always this limitless feeling of being able to create whenever, wherever, whatever I want."
Now, seeing this kind of art in her own city has left her in awe. The 33,000-square-foot space has art draped over the walls and coated on the floors. Almost every square inch is covered.
"You see every single detail of the strokes, of the art, it's really so rare to see it in such a big space, a large space," Swopes said. "This immersive experience where you almost get to learn about yourself, what you like, you're also getting to learn about the art and how it's created. You're wondering and curious about how it's even happening, which is amazing."
It happens with the help of more than 140 projectors displaying 4,500 full HD images simultaneously per second. The images are based on the work of Gustav Klimt. There's so much happening, if you blink, you could miss something.
"The columns are definitely by far my favorite piece of this," Swopes said. "Sometimes digital artists are limited by having to print our artwork or do this physical kind of tangible thing, but when it comes to this, we are really getting the clear view of how physical art can become tangible this way and it's really amazing."
Swopes added, "I feel like everything is in its own generation or its own time or telling its own story about someone who's expressing something and that to me is modern art, that is art in its essence ... Every inch of this place you can kind of create your own perspective and what you see and what you appreciate about it."
The walk-through experience lasts about an hour. Swopes says what she loves most about this new age is the twist it puts on traditional art.
"I think people are concerned about us getting away from what's natural, or what's healthy, or what's good for us, but when I think about these situations or these futuristic things, I think they are just tools to better our lives and make our experiences more wholesome and connected ... We can have those moments of calm, of relaxed and use these tools to not escape life but to make life better," Swopes said.
The exhibit will showcase different artists every 10-12 months. For more information on ticket pricing and show times, you can check out the Hall des Lumières website: halldeslumieres.com
Lindsay Cayne contributed to this report.