Apparition presents works by four significant contemporary artists: Darren Bader, Marco Brambilla, Koo Jeong A, and Bjarne Melgaard. The show, a collaboration with Acute Art, represents a new chapter in the conversation between art and technology, an ever-evolving field explored at PHI.

Art can act as an early warning system that can prepare us for the world of tomorrow. These AR projects represent a leap into the future, exploring entirely new possibilities for art to reach audiences. The works display phantom-like qualities—at once ghostly, spectral, and hologrammatic simulacra—they are present in non-tangible ways.

Invisible to the naked eye, they come to life in your phone when you arrive at the right spot. Once caught on camera they appear as real as the environment around them. Through the juxtaposition of physical and virtual worlds, they communicate a sense of surprise and wonder. Some of them may appear as mischievous tricks, others as awe-inspiring materializations of other worlds.

The advent of AR allows new forms of public art to emerge and new exhibition models to evolve outside traditional institutions. Could we instead imagine immersive experiences distributed across geographies in novel ways, connecting local experiential nodes in ways that chart an entirely new territory? With Apparition, PHI presents Acute Art’s groundbreaking approach to new exhibition formats.

— Daniel Birnbaum, Director and Curator of Acute Art