Exhibitions Veiled Presence

Veiled Presence, Opened June 4th 2010

Artist Matthew West brings to Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey The Virtual Public Art Projects’ first ever virtual enclosure, Veiled Presence. The dome spans a 3,000 foot diameter and reaches heights of over 300ft.

Veiled Presence is a vaulted virtual structure resembling a dome or a canopy. The structure’s roof is broken up by a mesh of geometrical openings that are constructed to allow participants to experience the phenomena of combining virtual and real world components. These openings enable reality to break through the ornate virtual canopy like rays of light through glass.

The structure was designed with the intention to secularize notions of sacred and utopian forms. Through the combination of interface and site specificity, this piece places the ball in the participant’s court, calling for active involvement in the experience through Augmented Reality.

One of the intentions of this A.R. experience is to confront and question current trends toward believing the myth of disembodied telepresence. To experience Vaulted Presence, is to illuminate the crucial role that human beings and their bodies play in the world, in A.R. one does not leave the body behind, but instead remains present in the world, experiencing the veil of the virtual upon the landscape of the real. The participant who experiences the vaulted dome structure may contemplate possible worlds and its use of future technologies.

Matthew West website