Dvořák Prague Festival to debut cutting-edge digital art from the 0xCollection with nine installations across two Prague locations

Prague, 8th September 2023 – The 0xCollection is adding a new element to this year’s Dvořák Prague festival, with innovative digital art exhibitions at two of the annual classical musical festival’s marquee venues. “Synesthetic Immersion” features eight international artists in the KKCG Arts Space at Bořislavka, and “Dvořák Dreams”, by internationally renowned Refik Anadol, installed at the Rudolfinum concert hall, bolster this year’s interdisciplinary program.

From Thursday, September 7th at Bořislavka, visitors to Synthetic Immersion are invited to challenge their expectation of what art should be and, instead, question what art can be - both now and in the future. The exhibition is open throughout the Dvořák Prague festival, of which KKCG has been a long-term partner and supporter, including four performances taking place at Bořislavka throughout September.

From September 8th to 13th, in front of the Rudolfinum concert hall, Dvořák Dreams, a large-format AI data sculpture, is available for festivalgoers and the general public alike. Anadol's work interprets Antonín Dvořák’s life and music into a digital format, using the latest in machine learning and AI to bring the legendary composer's legacy into the contemporary era.

At Bořislavka, Synesthetic Immersion highlights the work of 8 new media artists whose creations translate one art form into another through radical interdisciplinary technologies. Exploring synaesthesia (derived from the Greek for ‘united perception’) as a poetic and a neurological state, the artworks demonstrate the transformation of an input perceived by one sense into an output in another. In this hybrid mechanism, a colour can have sound, or an artwork can directly induce sensation.

Among the artists on display, Nancy Baker Cahill, will showcase her “The quivering and lively nerve of the now”. Daito Manabe will introduce visitors to “Cells: A Generation”, a new work which fuses biology and artistic expression through the visual depiction of rat neurological outputs, questioning the level of humanity required in the creative process. Ryoji Ikeda translates glitches found in computer hard drives into video artwork, finding beauty in technological error.

The KKCG Arts Space at Bořislavka has been transformed through the construction of architectural cubes, designed to isolate sound and light for each artwork, engaging the audience in a microcosm of immersive 4D experience. The exhibition design extends in a spiral from the entrances inwards, occupying the entire space, with Sougwen Chung's augmented reality (AR) sculptures forming the centre point of the architectural promenade.

Synesthetic Immersion begins on Thursday, September 7th and runs until Monday, October 16th. Opening hours are from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. on weekdays, and 1 P.M. until 6 P.M. on weekends. Refik Anadol’s data sculpture will be showcased from September 8th-13th, from 10 A.M. until 10 P.M.

ABOUT 0XCOLLECTION

Focused on developing digital art from the present, for the future, the 0xCollection (pronounced ‘HexCollection’) is a digital, new media, and time-based art collection and initiative based in Basel, Switzerland. Under the direction of new media expert Elle Anastasiou, 0x launches in September 2023 across two public spaces in Prague with: ‘Synesthetic Immersion’, a group exhibition of 8 international artists and DVOŘÁK DREAMS, a new large-scale commission by Refik Anadol. Seeking to act as a touchstone for digital, new media and time-based art, 0x actively collects work for public display and education surrounding our current era of technological innovation and interactivity. The collection serves to further dialogue between artists working at the cusp of the technopocene by placing a decentralised approach to collecting and curating at the heart of its mission. Through an acquisition structure based on exhibition capsules, 0x aims to highlight and commemorate cultural moments in the now, while also interacting with a growing network of curators, experts, researchers, historians and artists excelling within the fields of digital new media art.

ABOUT KKCG

KKCG is an investment and innovation group with expertise in lotteries and gaming, energy, technology, and real estate. Founded by entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist Karel Komárek, KKCG employs over 10,000 people in 36 countries across its portfolio companies, with more than €8 billion in assets undermanagement. Its businesses include, amongst others, Allwyn, a multi-national lottery operator with leading market positions in Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States (Illinois); MND Group, an international producer and supplier of traditional and renewable energy, active in drilling and exploration, energy storage, retail, and trading; ARICOMA Holding a.s., comprehensive IT services provider and custom software development across Europe and the US; and KKCG Real Estate which creates internationally recognized, award-winning architecture in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors with a focus on innovative and sustainable development. With operations on several continents, KKCG businesses draw on capital, networks, and insights from across the group to enable profitable, sustainable growth for the long term. KKCG is committed to supporting the communities where it operates, contributing to the societies it works within.