Chiara Passa, media artist exploring digital dimensions through augmented and virtual reality since 1997. With an M.F.A. from the Fine Arts Academy of Rome and a Master's in Audio-Visual Media from the Faculty of Modern Literature. My artistic research is part of the mid-nineties’ revival of immersive art, exploring the transformative role of technology, from developing augmented reality applications to creating immersive, interactive virtual installations. Over the years, I have forged a unique artistic language through immersive technologies, which now serve as the keystone of my creative expression.
In the late nineties, I designed VR and AR video installations and multimedia works that leveraged pioneering techniques like whole-wall beamer projections, The CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment), and video-mapping to evoke immersive effect. Although early experiments laid the groundwork for my innovative practice, it wasn't until 2014, when I embraced 3D viewers that I fully immersed myself in the potential of virtual reality.
Driven by a deep fascination with space and its transformation through digital languages, I use VR and AR to challenge static notions of architecture. My installations explore the liminal space between the tangible and the virtual, creating a dynamic interplay where the boundaries of physical space are extended and reconfigured. By merging the spatial arrangement of real environments with digitally constructed, imaginary spaces, I invite spectators to experience a sense of suspended reality, a double exposure to both the familiar and the uncanny.
My varied body of work spans 3D animations, net-artworks, and interactive, site-specific AR and VR video-sculptures crafted from materials ranging from Carrara marble and ceramic to plexiglass and 3D-printed components. Additionally, I also create site-specific video installations using a variety of Google Cardboards. In these installations, strategically placed 3D viewers transform ordinary spaces into geometric liminal zones, allowing onlookers to peer into reconstructed virtual realms that highlight the paradox of our modern, fluid space-time condition.
My work has been internationally exhibited from galleries, festivals, conferences, museums and institutions, including: «META-PAN» Palazzo Arte Napoli (2024); «Object (RE) Oriented Reality» Solo show at Panke gallery Berlin (2023); «Still Life» Solo show at Zabludowicz Collection Museum, London (2021-2022); «MADATAC XI» Bienal Virtual de Arte de los Nuevos Medios Digitales, Madrid (2020); «Object Oriented Space». Solo show at Museum MLAC Rome (2019); «Virtual Natives – Sculpture», Roehrs and Boetsch gallery, Zurich (2019); «Oslo Night show», HEK Museum Basel (2018); «InSonic» immersive art show, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Museum, Karlsruhe (2017); «The Ways of something». Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016-2017); «From live architecture: Dimensioning», mostra personale Furtherfield gallery, London (2016); «Off Biennale Cairo» (2015-2016); «ISEA Disruption», Conference and exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery. (2015); «Morphos», Vortex Dome - immersion media, Los Angeles (2014); «Media Art Histories IV - RENEW» conference, Riga. (2013). «FILE | Electronic Language International Festival», São Paulo. (2011); «Electrofringe - festival of new media art», Newcastle, Australia. (2008); «BizArtCenter», Shanghai (2005); «MACRO – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea», Roma (2004), 11° Biennale of young artists of Europe and the Mediterranean countries: «Cosmos - a sea of art», Athens. (2003); «48a Biennale di Venezia» (with Oreste group), Venezia (1999); «Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa», Venezia (1999).