I have an obsessive fascination with the visions, ideas, and processes that inspire my work. The creation of vivid depictions and expressions of these imagined and emergent realities is my primary preoccupation in life.
Technology provides me with an endless palette of new possibilities and enables me to dissolve traditional boundaries of medium, process, style and genre. The objective and theme of my work is to inspire the transcendent experience of profound beauty, mystery and awe.
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being.
My process integrates intuition and intellect - deliberate design and random happenstance - painting and sculpture - realism and abstraction - nature and technology - art and mathematics - science and mysticism - philosophy and humor.
I've been making virtual art using 3D computer graphics for over thirty years. I produce prints, animations, 3D printed sculptures and virtual realities. Virtual reality technology makes it possible to experience my art in it's natural habitat.
The fundamental innovation of virtual reality is spatial presence - the sensation of being present in a place. The ability to directly communicate the first person subjective experience of spatial presence brings an entirely new dimension to communication. Art is particularly well suited to this new medium because it is experiential. Throughout history, artists, like architects, have used spatial presence to mediate experience in reality. VR makes it possible to mediate experience unconstrained by the limits of reality.
The creative freedom enabled by virtual reality is staggering. It opens up a vast multiverse of entirely new artistic possibilities. I've always dreamed of using technology to transport people to places and experiences beyond imagination. Virtual reality has made my lifelong dream an actual reality.
Technology provides me with an endless palette of new possibilities and enables me to dissolve traditional boundaries of medium, process, style and genre. The objective and theme of my work is to inspire the transcendent experience of profound beauty, mystery and awe.
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being.
My process integrates intuition and intellect - deliberate design and random happenstance - painting and sculpture - realism and abstraction - nature and technology - art and mathematics - science and mysticism - philosophy and humor.
I've been making virtual art using 3D computer graphics for over thirty years. I produce prints, animations, 3D printed sculptures and virtual realities. Virtual reality technology makes it possible to experience my art in it's natural habitat.
The fundamental innovation of virtual reality is spatial presence - the sensation of being present in a place. The ability to directly communicate the first person subjective experience of spatial presence brings an entirely new dimension to communication. Art is particularly well suited to this new medium because it is experiential. Throughout history, artists, like architects, have used spatial presence to mediate experience in reality. VR makes it possible to mediate experience unconstrained by the limits of reality.
The creative freedom enabled by virtual reality is staggering. It opens up a vast multiverse of entirely new artistic possibilities. I've always dreamed of using technology to transport people to places and experiences beyond imagination. Virtual reality has made my lifelong dream an actual reality.
Visions
I've had visions and a vivid imagination all my life. I've made art all my life as a way to give form to my visions, and to share them with others. A vivid imagination is very much like virtual reality and proved very useful in my work in visual effects.
VFX Career
I was lucky to enjoy a wonderful career in visual effects. In the eighties, I did matte painting, scenic painting, miniatures, sculpture, concept art and storyboards. I got into computers for creating my experimental art and music and I recognized their enormous potential. I was in the right place at the right time, and I got to help pioneer the use of computer graphics for visual effects. I worked on a lot of cool movies and even won an Oscar for my work on What Dreams May Come.
Art and Technology
I've been making virtual art using 3D computer graphics for over thirty years. As technology has advanced, so have the ways in which I can share my virtual creations. Digital ink jet printing enabled all kinds of prints. 3D printing let me bring my virtual art into the physical world. Virtual reality makes it possible for people to experience my art in it's natural habitat.
Spatial Presence
The fundamental innovation of Virtual Reality is Spatial Presence - the sense of being in a place. Spatial presence is an entirely new communication medium.
For the first time in human history we can directly transmit the first person subjective experience of reality, independent of actual reality.
Art and VR
Art is well suited for virtual reality because it is experiential. Throughout history, artists, like architects, have used spatial presence to mediate experience in reality. VR makes it possible to mediate experience unconstrained by the limits of reality. The creative freedom of VR is staggering and opens up a universe of entirely new artistic possibilities.
The Power of Art and The Science of Awe
Art can entertain, shock, raise awareness, provide political and social commentary, provoke intellectual inquiry and all manner of emotional response. For my own work, I decided that if I could create art that inspires a transcendent experience of profound beauty, mystery, and awe, then that would be the most interesting and positive thing I could do as an artist. It is the objective and theme of my work.
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe.
Motivation
I have an obsessive fascination with the visions, ideas, and processes that inspire my work. The creation of vivid depictions and expressions of these imagined and emergent realities is my primary preoccupation in life.
Process
People often say in regard to technology, "We are only limited by our imagination.", but I've found that with technology I can create things I could never have imagined. Using directed randomness, procedural rule based systems and artificial life, I can create my own laws of nature and explore what emerges. Discovery and the search for novelty are central to my creative process.
Technology provides me with an endless palette of new possibilities and enables me to dissolve traditional boundaries of medium, process, style and genre. My process integrates intuition and intellect - deliberate design and random happenstance - painting and sculpture - realism and abstraction - nature and technology - art and mathematics - science and mysticism - philosophy and humor.
Shape Space
Shape Space is the space of all possible shapes. It's also how I refer to the universe of my abstract VR artworks. Shapes have significant effects on consciousness. They are fundamental to reality and our perception of it. From an abstract perspective, everything, from subatomic particles to the entire universe, is shapes in space. Shapes are the building blocks of reality and consciousness. While many consider the abstract simply a genre of art, it's actually the essence of art and everything else. The abstract is the universal language of consciousness, nature, and reality itself.
The Future
I like to visualize a world where technology has enabled us to solve all of our problems and create an abundant world of endless resources, free from conflict and disease, where everyone is immortal, and can do anything, be anything, and go anywhere. This scenario may be far fetched, but it's enlightening to consider, that in such a world, the only meaningful endeavors remaining to humanity would be art and science - creativity, discovery, knowledge, entertainment, and self expression.
The creative freedom enabled by virtual reality is staggering. It opens up a vast multiverse of entirely new artistic possibilities. I've always dreamed of using technology to transport people to places and experiences beyond imagination. Virtual reality has made my lifelong dream an actual reality.
I've had visions and a vivid imagination all my life. I've made art all my life as a way to give form to my visions, and to share them with others. A vivid imagination is very much like virtual reality and proved very useful in my work in visual effects.
VFX Career
I was lucky to enjoy a wonderful career in visual effects. In the eighties, I did matte painting, scenic painting, miniatures, sculpture, concept art and storyboards. I got into computers for creating my experimental art and music and I recognized their enormous potential. I was in the right place at the right time, and I got to help pioneer the use of computer graphics for visual effects. I worked on a lot of cool movies and even won an Oscar for my work on What Dreams May Come.
Art and Technology
I've been making virtual art using 3D computer graphics for over thirty years. As technology has advanced, so have the ways in which I can share my virtual creations. Digital ink jet printing enabled all kinds of prints. 3D printing let me bring my virtual art into the physical world. Virtual reality makes it possible for people to experience my art in it's natural habitat.
Spatial Presence
The fundamental innovation of Virtual Reality is Spatial Presence - the sense of being in a place. Spatial presence is an entirely new communication medium.
For the first time in human history we can directly transmit the first person subjective experience of reality, independent of actual reality.
Art and VR
Art is well suited for virtual reality because it is experiential. Throughout history, artists, like architects, have used spatial presence to mediate experience in reality. VR makes it possible to mediate experience unconstrained by the limits of reality. The creative freedom of VR is staggering and opens up a universe of entirely new artistic possibilities.
The Power of Art and The Science of Awe
Art can entertain, shock, raise awareness, provide political and social commentary, provoke intellectual inquiry and all manner of emotional response. For my own work, I decided that if I could create art that inspires a transcendent experience of profound beauty, mystery, and awe, then that would be the most interesting and positive thing I could do as an artist. It is the objective and theme of my work.
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe.
Motivation
I have an obsessive fascination with the visions, ideas, and processes that inspire my work. The creation of vivid depictions and expressions of these imagined and emergent realities is my primary preoccupation in life.
Process
People often say in regard to technology, "We are only limited by our imagination.", but I've found that with technology I can create things I could never have imagined. Using directed randomness, procedural rule based systems and artificial life, I can create my own laws of nature and explore what emerges. Discovery and the search for novelty are central to my creative process.
Technology provides me with an endless palette of new possibilities and enables me to dissolve traditional boundaries of medium, process, style and genre. My process integrates intuition and intellect - deliberate design and random happenstance - painting and sculpture - realism and abstraction - nature and technology - art and mathematics - science and mysticism - philosophy and humor.
Shape Space
Shape Space is the space of all possible shapes. It's also how I refer to the universe of my abstract VR artworks. Shapes have significant effects on consciousness. They are fundamental to reality and our perception of it. From an abstract perspective, everything, from subatomic particles to the entire universe, is shapes in space. Shapes are the building blocks of reality and consciousness. While many consider the abstract simply a genre of art, it's actually the essence of art and everything else. The abstract is the universal language of consciousness, nature, and reality itself.
The Future
I like to visualize a world where technology has enabled us to solve all of our problems and create an abundant world of endless resources, free from conflict and disease, where everyone is immortal, and can do anything, be anything, and go anywhere. This scenario may be far fetched, but it's enlightening to consider, that in such a world, the only meaningful endeavors remaining to humanity would be art and science - creativity, discovery, knowledge, entertainment, and self expression.
The creative freedom enabled by virtual reality is staggering. It opens up a vast multiverse of entirely new artistic possibilities. I've always dreamed of using technology to transport people to places and experiences beyond imagination. Virtual reality has made my lifelong dream an actual reality.
About
I employ virtual reality as an aesthetic medium in and of itself. I endeavor to create vast living abstract art worlds unconstrained by the limits of ordinary reality. I utilize principles of neuroscience to engage the imagination and inspire awe through shape, color, motion, sound, and spatial presence. I developed a unique system for VR navigation that enables you to fly freely, like in a dream, as you explore my creations.
Mack's art is inspired by transcendent visions, nature, and technology, and is informed by research in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to artificial life.
Mack's VR art piece, Zen Parade, is being used as a hypnoanalgesic during awake brain surgery and to help map the right hemisphere as part of a research study. Blortasia is being used in therapy and as part of a research study to reduce pain, anxiety and depression in bone marrow transplant patients.
Mack's art is inspired by transcendent visions, nature, and technology, and is informed by research in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to artificial life.
Mack's VR art piece, Zen Parade, is being used as a hypnoanalgesic during awake brain surgery and to help map the right hemisphere as part of a research study. Blortasia is being used in therapy and as part of a research study to reduce pain, anxiety and depression in bone marrow transplant patients.
Virtual Reality and The Power of Awe
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe.
Scientific studies have proven that awe, as experienced through art and nature, has significant mental and physical health benefits. It reduces stress, anxiety and inflammation, and has positive effects on attitude, behavior, and well being. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe.
Mack's work exploits a variety of methods and perceptual mechanisms to inspire awe and transcendent states.
Spatial Presence
Mack's work is focused on spatial presence as a gateway to the transcendent experience.
"The fundamental innovation of virtual reality is spatial presence, the sense of being in a place.
Spatial presence is an entirely new communication medium. For the first time in human history we can directly transmit the first person subjective experience of reality. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe." - Quotes by Kevin Mack
Personal Flight
Mack studied the vestibular system and drew upon his neuroscience research to develop an original, intuitive, physics based flight system for Blortasia. Even those who claim to be extremely motion sensitive are surprised to find it doesn't cause motion sickness. Many report an increased incidence of flying in their dreams.
"Personal flight is a universal desire. Flying in Blortasia is like flying in a dream, and has proven a significant trigger for awe, presence, and flow."
Novelty
The constantly evolving abstract shapes, textures, and patterns of Blortasia provide an experience of perpetual novelty. Each session is unique. The initial parameters are randomized making for endless variations within a consistent stylistic framework.
"Novelty is fundamental to the experience of awe. The search for novelty has always been central to my work. Blortasia is an effort to create an art experience that is perpetually novel."
Pareidolia
The abstract nature of Blortasia inspires the imagination through pareidolia. The shapes, colors, patterns, and textures are designed to provide an optimal stimulus for pareidolia.
"I've always been fascinated by the things I see that aren't there. When we see things in clouds, rocks, abstract art, or any other visual stimulus, that aren't actually there, we are constructing reality from our unconscious imagination."
Neural Entrainment
A unique artistic approach to neural entrainment is employed in both the music and the animated imagery to induce a relaxed, open, and present, state of mind, and to sustain it for the duration of the experience.
Sound Healing Music
The hypnotic music integrates ancient sound healing techniques from Tibet with contemporary sound science to generate awe and transcendent states of consciousness.
Abstract Art
Kevin has been making abstract art with computers for over thirty years. www.kevinmackart.com
"The abstract is more than a genre of art. It is the essence of art - and everything else. The abstract is the universal language of the mind, nature, and reality. Abstract art can alter consciousness in significant ways."
Spatial Presence
Mack's work is focused on spatial presence as a gateway to the transcendent experience.
"The fundamental innovation of virtual reality is spatial presence, the sense of being in a place.
Spatial presence is an entirely new communication medium. For the first time in human history we can directly transmit the first person subjective experience of reality. The spatial presence of virtual reality provides a powerful new way to transmit beauty, mystery and awe." - Quotes by Kevin Mack
Personal Flight
Mack studied the vestibular system and drew upon his neuroscience research to develop an original, intuitive, physics based flight system for Blortasia. Even those who claim to be extremely motion sensitive are surprised to find it doesn't cause motion sickness. Many report an increased incidence of flying in their dreams.
"Personal flight is a universal desire. Flying in Blortasia is like flying in a dream, and has proven a significant trigger for awe, presence, and flow."
Novelty
The constantly evolving abstract shapes, textures, and patterns of Blortasia provide an experience of perpetual novelty. Each session is unique. The initial parameters are randomized making for endless variations within a consistent stylistic framework.
"Novelty is fundamental to the experience of awe. The search for novelty has always been central to my work. Blortasia is an effort to create an art experience that is perpetually novel."
Pareidolia
The abstract nature of Blortasia inspires the imagination through pareidolia. The shapes, colors, patterns, and textures are designed to provide an optimal stimulus for pareidolia.
"I've always been fascinated by the things I see that aren't there. When we see things in clouds, rocks, abstract art, or any other visual stimulus, that aren't actually there, we are constructing reality from our unconscious imagination."
Neural Entrainment
A unique artistic approach to neural entrainment is employed in both the music and the animated imagery to induce a relaxed, open, and present, state of mind, and to sustain it for the duration of the experience.
Sound Healing Music
The hypnotic music integrates ancient sound healing techniques from Tibet with contemporary sound science to generate awe and transcendent states of consciousness.
Abstract Art
Kevin has been making abstract art with computers for over thirty years. www.kevinmackart.com
"The abstract is more than a genre of art. It is the essence of art - and everything else. The abstract is the universal language of the mind, nature, and reality. Abstract art can alter consciousness in significant ways."