vr mag feb 2018

First Virtual Reality Art Museum!
issue no. 9!

First-ever virtual reality

private museum
Since the inception of dslcollection in
2006, we have always kept to the same
three collecting principles: !
!
• To be focused only on Chinese
contemporary art!
• To constantly regenerate by adding
and subtracting works, maintaining
a limit of approximately 350 artworks!
• To look towards the future, exploring
new spaces and experiences
through the latest technology!
!
Conceived as a nomadic art collection,
dslcollection has never been fixed to a
single spot. Instead we have chosen to
go beyond the traditional notions of art
spaces via the limitless arena of the
digital world. !
!
dslcollection was the first to move from
a static website to a 2D and
subsequently, a 3D virtual museum
online. In 2010, we launched our iPad
application and 2 years later, we
opened the dslmuseum on Second Life.
In 2016, we celebrated our 10th
anniversary with new projects in
augmented reality and virtual reality.!

Zhang Huan, Big Buddha, 2002!
Wood, steel, stone, 590x400x300cm!
!

dslcollection is the first virtual reality private art museum. Our museum
provides the public with first-hand experience of the private art
collection, to navigate the virtual space and directly interact with various
artworks.!

Over the next ten years, dslcollection aims to be part of the so-called
Fourth Industrial Revolution by experimenting in art innovations such as
3D printing, artificial intelligence, blockchain…!

The Fourth

Industrial Revolution

Clockwise:!
Zeng Fanzhi, We no. 8, 2003, oil on canvas, 400x400cm!
Zhang Dali, AK47, acrylic on vinyl, 380x330cm!
Zhang Huan, Peace 1, 2001, sculpture, 335x366x244cm!
!

Lin Tianmiao, The very same, 2011 !
Installation with 1,500 pieces!
Synthetic and animal skeletons in gold leaf!
!

dslcollection addresses VR
not as a medium associated
with specific hardware, but
more loosely as a form of
storytelling, primarily
concerned with immersion
and interactivity. !
!
VR creates a space of
encounter that is free from all
physical constraints and has
greater potential for creating
empathy. VR makes the
familiar “unfamiliar”.!

Lin Tianmiao, The very same, 2011 !
Installation with 1,500 pieces!
Synthetic and animal skeletons in gold leaf!
!

Jin Jiangbo, Chinese Tyrannosaurus, 2005, !
Multimedia installation, 600x250x100cm!

“Our goal is to help democratise art,

to reach new audience from all corners of
the world, especially the millenials”

Our latest virtual

eality acquisition

Interview with
Wang Xin
Wang Xin (b. 1983, Hubei, China)!
!
When did you initiate the VR
project and why?!
!
I initiated the VR at the end of
2015. My first VR headset is
oculus dk2. Although its quality is
not as good as today’s VR
equipment, it gave me my very
first experience of VR. A main
reason I am so interested in VR is
that, as a lucid dreamer I see
dreams as a naturally borne ‘VR
experience’ which is produced by
human brains, and I've been
greatly interested in it since a
young age. Now VR technology
can produce lucid dream-like
experiences, which can be
shared with others. This expands
my art expression. Therefore, as
soon as I could I started to use VR
in my art creation. !
!
This work collected is about the
past, present and future of your
artist’s studio. How often are
you going to update the
present work to mirror this
concept? !
!
Maybe every 1-3 years. It
depends on my art development
and life experiences. When I feel it
is the right time to update is when
I will update. !

How long did it take you to
complete this VR project? Was
it very difficult in terms of
creativity?!
!
I actually started to do this VR
project almost two years ago. For
this project I made several
different test versions. Because I
taught myself how to use the
software by watching online
tutorials videos, it took me quite a
long time to complete the special
VR work in this project. In fact, I
am still learning and improving.
For this project, technology was
not the most difficult part even
though it took lots of time to learn
how to do it. The real difficulty of
creation was in how to drag this
project from my imagination into
reality in the best possible way.
The imagination can develop very
quickly; I can imagine how it will
go in many different ways and
how it will be many years in the
future. The difficulty I sometimes
encountered is that I must choose
one or parts among all my
imagined visions to build the VR.!
Do you think that VR opens new
spaces/experiences to connect
with art?!
!
Yes, I do think so. !
!
Would you create other works
incorporating VR? !
!
For sure, I will create more works
incorporating VR. I just started on
this path, and there is still a long
way to go.!
!

Wang Xin, A Virtual Land Where Stored an Artist’s Past, Present and Future Artworks and
Related Information, 2017, interactive VR installation!
Courtesy of the artist and de Sarthe Gallery Hong Kong!
!

“I created this virtual land to store my works. This is because most
of my installation work is in this situation when they are not
exhibited: after they have been ‘consumed’ in different exhibitions
and art events, I have to dump most of my physical work. The
materials and structure of my physical installation work will be
dilapidated gradually through time. When they become too broken
to show I have to dump them. New ones will be reproduced in the
future when the work is required to be shown again. And finally at
the end of time when we do not inhabit planet Earth, that is when all
the artwork will end up piling up in a wasteland.!
!
So my imagination about the future makes me cherish the moment,
the present when they are still being shown and giving people
unique experiences. Creating this virtual land for my artwork is like
dragging my imaginations into reality and sharing with other people
to experience and feel it together.”!
!
Wang Xin!

Immersion & Interactivity

“Digital Art Collection

of the Year” – Larry’s List 2016

Featuring over 30
of our largest works

dslcollection!
!
dslmagazine is directed and
designed by Helen Ho!