Wonderspaces returns to San Diego 'With Creative License'

June 6, 2018 10:37 AM PT

Returning to San Diego for a second year of eye-popping exhibits and interactive art, LA-based Wonderspaces unveils its new show With Creative License, and a brand-new location by the waterfront. With more than 60,000 visitors to the 2017 exhibition, this year’s show will display 15 artists from around the world, and a tantalizing feast for the eyes and senses in a variety of artistic mediums.

Speaking on the return to San Diego, Jason Shin, co-founder and president said, “We don’t want to live in the special event category. We are talking about something fundamental in people’s lives, spending time with friends, family, and sharing in new experiences. These artists around the world are creating wondrous spaces that can fill that role.”

Formerly hosted in Mission Valley’s Civita community, the interactive exhibition, which launches June 8, will move to the B Street Pier along the waterfront.

Part of the Wonderspaces ethos is that the exhibition isn’t just seen as another art show for a certain crowd. Shin continued, “The people in San Diego, whether they identify with art or not, can gather here with the people they care about and because of that, everything about the show, from the location to the price and the artwork itself, is designed to be accessible.”

Curating the show and gathering the artists from around the globe is Wonderspaces Creative Director Kendall Warson. Her enthusiasm is apparent by the intrinsic energy of the exhibition from start to finish.

“We try to make it a dynamic show and showcase artists with different concepts, approaches and backgrounds,” she said. “We have filmmakers, photographers, and engineers with such an array of experiences. The variety is what makes the show unique. There is no theme, except that they are all exceptional and unique, and we hope people can immerse themselves.”

In a serene and magical world of paper, German artist Carolin Wanitzek created The Border, which explores the landscape between dreams and reality. Inspired by 10 years of creation, and taking a full 10 days to install, the work represents a personal journey of passion, and as the artist noted, it “is like waking up in a forest.” Comprised entirely of photographic paper, the wooded scene full of trees, insects and flowers, takes viewers to their childhood and the reverie of memories. Wanitzek sends the invitation, “You can be in your own blue tree world.”

British artist Memo Akten utilizes fluid and particle simulation in Body Paint to provide viewers the chance to create their own living art through computer code. For Akten, “The purpose is to give people a taste of the joy of creation and to be creative.”

As an avid musician, he said of his artwork: “The analogy I think about is a musical instrument. Playing is not necessarily about creating something at the end, but at the moment it’s a beautiful sensation. The things that happen in music don’t happen as much in the visual domain. That is something I am trying challenge. I am poking at that boundary that musicians get when they play musical instruments.”

Brussels-based duo Arnaud Eeckhout and Mauro Vitturini of Void create a complex sensation of vibrating inanimate objects with their experience of sound and movement entitled Magnetic Field. Utilizing more than 120 motors and 2,000 magnets hidden behind the wall, they breathe life into everyday materials such as steel scrubbing sponges. Mauro noted, “We like the idea of working with invisible forces and energies. Through sound, we try to create artwork using sound as a medium the same way a painter uses a brush or color.”

“It’s like a landscape, it’s breathing and spreading like a disease over the wall,” Arnaud added.