A film by Claude Mossessian © Claude Mossessian

Digital Arabesques 2015, Miguel CHEVALIER

Generative and interactive virtual-reality installation
Cultural Season France-Morocco 2015 
Organized by French Institute of Fes, Morocco
Dar Batha, Fes Medina quarter (Morocco)
From 27th February to 5th March 2015
8 m x 8 m
Software: Cyrille Henry and Antoine Villeret
Technical production : Voxels Productions
Music : Michel Redolfi


Miguel Chevalier takes inspiration from the aesthetics of Moroccan culture to create “Digital Arabesques 2014”, a generative and interactive virtual-reality installation shown in association with four French Institutes in four different cities in Morocco: Fes, Agadir, Tétouan et Essaouira. 
“Digital Arabesques 2015” revisits the Moroccan artistic tradition via the medium of digital art as it spreads out across the floor like a huge light carpet in Dar Batha in Fes. 
The piece features evolving multicolored digital scenes composed of ornamental patterns in reference to the art of zelliges, arabesques and mosaics, as well as the world of “Mashrabiya” (latticework). “Digital Arabesques” shows sophisticated geometrical patterns based on overlapping lines driven by mathematical logic. These moving patterns create a wave that forms and deforms to infinity to reveal a colorful living universe that is constantly renewed. This artwork is interactive through the use of infrared sensors. When the viewers interact with the piece they create disturbances under their feet in the trajectories of these mobile, interlaced patterns and new surprising compositions emerge. The result is an unprecedented interactive and visually immersive experience.
This creative work harks back to the idea of the trompe l’oeil technique in art, disturbing the perceptions of visitors while creating the sensation of a shifting floor or wall that loses its shape and moves. The reference here is to the great Kinetic Art and Op Art artists such as Victor Vasarely, who conducted the research into movement and optical illusion which predated the digital art of today.

In the art of zelliges, Miguel Chevalier discovered a decorative manifestation similar to his own language as well as a connection with digital algorithmic art in its characteristic use of the geometry of forms and mathematical laws. Miguel Chevalier enhances these features by the use of computer software to enrich the designs in the realization of his piece. In this way, Islamic art finds a natural connection with algorithmic and digital art.

In the same way that the zelliges of Morocco develop from floor to ceiling, "Digital Arabesques" covers the floor or the wall with vivid patterns reminiscent of this colourful land where the sun is omnipresent.  Miguel Chevalier’s artwork transports the viewer to a world of kaleidoscopic constellations and plunges us into the magical universe of “One Thousand and One Nights” and flying carpets.


Upcoming installations "Digital Arabesques" 2015, Miguel Chevalier : 

- Garden of French institute, Agadir (Morocco)
Opening on 10 March 2015
From 11 to 20 March 2015

- Dar Benjelloun, Tétouan (Morocco)
with French institut of Tétouan
Opening on 3 April 2015
From 3 to 15 April 2015

- Derb Lâalouj, Essaouira (Morocco) 
French institute of Essaouira 
Opening on 22 April 2015 
From 23 April to 3 May 2015 

Miguel CHEVALIER Digital Arabesques 2015 Fès (short version)

Plantarse sobre las alfombras mágicas interactivas de [Miguel Chevalier](http://www.miguel-chevalier.com/en/) es como ser transportado a un mundo de colores, luz y patrones cambiantes. Este nuevo vídeo creado por su colaborador durante mucho tiempo, [Claude Mossessian](https://vimeo.com/claudemossessian), nos muestra la instalación del artista en el museo Dar Batha en Fez, Marruecos.

_Digital Arabesques_ es la última pieza de una serie de instalaciones virtuales generativas que incluyen [un jardín iluminado por flores fractales](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/fractal-flowers-are-in-full-bloom-at-miguel-chevaliers-first-solo-exhibition) y [un castillo italiano moquetado con luz](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/a-digital-magic-carpet-covers-the-floor-of-an-italian-castle). La clave para convertir estos proyectos en experiencias interactivas, en lugar de limitarse a ser simples proyecciones, es el uso de sensores infrarrojos que rastrean los movimientos de los visitantes a lo largo del suelo.

_Digital Arabesques_ se puede ver en la ciudad de Agadir hasta el 20 de marzo, y a partir de entonces la obra viajará a otras dos ciudades marroquís para acercar su experiencia interactiva a la cultura que la inspiró.

[En la página web](http://www.miguel-chevalier.com/en/) de Chevalier puedes ver otras de sus obras.

_[Una pantalla luminosa interactiva transforma el suelo de una iglesia marroquí en &#x201c;alfombras mágicas&#x201d;](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/es/blog/una-pantalla-luminosa-interactiva-transforma-el-suelo-de-una-iglesia-marroqui-en-alfombras-magicas)_

[_Luces brillantes te persiguen a través de un túnel de luz interactivo_](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/a-digital-magic-carpet-covers-the-floor-of-an-italian-castle)

[_Intenta combatir a tu sombra en esta sala de luces interactivas_](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/es/blog/intenta-combatir-a-tu-sombra-en-esta-sala-de-luces-interactivas)

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El museo Dar Batha en Fez presenta la obra "Digital Arabesques" del artista francés Miguel Chevalier.

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Miguel Chevalier envuelve a Marruecos en mosaicos virtuales

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Miguel Chevalier envuelve a Marruecos en mosaicos virtuales

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