Hauser & Wirth announces new art and technology division with the launch of a custom-designed virtual reality platform

Photo caption: A virtual-reality rendering of a Louise Bourgeois sculpture created by Hauser & Wirth’s HWVR technology developed by the gallery’s new ArtLab division.Louise Bourgeois © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY, courtesy of the Easton Foundation and Hauser & Wirth. Article by Margaret Carrigan.

Galleries across the globe are quickly scaling up their virtual offerings as the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic keeps their physical storefronts shuttered. For the big blue-chip dealers, this more often than not means launching digital platforms that have already long been in development.

Hauser & Wirth is the latest mega-gallery to unveil a virtual arm of its enterprise in the form of ArtLab, a new international initiative dedicated to developing projects at the crossroads of art and technology. Its first major development is a custom-built virtual reality (VR) modelling tool called HWVR, which will be used to present the gallery’s debut VR-based exhibition at the end of April. The show will also offer a virtually rendered preview of the gallery’s Menorcan outpost, which was announced last year and is slated to open as an artist residency and added exhibition space in 2021. […]

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