Exteded Realities

Introduction to Pia Myrvold's Chapter: Extended Realities

Pia Myrvold's chapter Extended Realities invites readers to embark on a transformative journey through the realms of virtual worlds, immersive environments, and digital mapping. Since 2001, Myrvold has pushed the boundaries of art and technology, dedicating herself to extensive research employing cutting-edge 3D virtual tools.

Her pioneering work includes the avatar, The Creation of Eve, 2001, Fellissimo Design House, New York, utilising Houdini software and showcasing the intersection of creativity, identity, and digital innovation.

In 2004, she introduced the interactive and immersive installation Female Interface at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, which featured suits embedded with control systems that activated sound and image loops through sensors in the gloves, elbows, and feet of the participants. These experiences marked a shift toward creating art that demands active engagement.

Myrvold's exhibitions have continued to explore layered realities. Her 2006-2007 work at the In-Formation retrospective in Stavanger Art Museum examined the historic Lars Hertervig Collection through virtual replicas, while 2008's Russian Doll at Galerie Spartz, Paris revealed intricate worlds within worlds.

The monumental Tunnel Vision, created in 2010, was an 11-metre-long immersive space with 77 screens, allowing viewers to experience the act of creation in real time, planned for the independent pavilion FLOW: A Work in Motion, Venice Biennale, 2011.

The employment of multi-surface sculptural forms, digital mapping, and a narrative of virtual animated sculptures has opened up new exhibition narratives, such as in the K11 Art Foundation video mapping painting, Shanghai, and PACE Beijing, both in 2014.

The chapter traces Myrvold's evolution through significant projects, culminating in the VR interfaces of 2018. Here, she detached physicality from virtual experience, presenting works that redefine how we interact with digital spaces.

The parallell performance series Extended Realities highlighted the power of imagination, as dancers donned costumes and masks to choreograph movements guided by nature's own VR third eye, advocating a resistance to an isolated VR experience, and proposing an integration of VR learning through interacting in real time and space.

Overall, Myrvold’s contribution to contemporary art is a profound exploration of how technology can extend our reality, blurring the lines between the digital and the physical, and inviting us to reflect on our own perceptions and interactions with the world around us.