Image courtesy of the Artist and La Prairie
Mathieu Le Sourd, also known as MAOTIK, is a French digital artist focused on creating immersive environments, interactive installations, architectural sculptures, and audiovisual performances which play at the intersection of art, science, and technology. For this year’s edition of Art Basel, in Basel, he was invited by La Prairie to immerse the audience into a digital voyage of the colours of the night.
The artist studied Digital Media Production at the London Institute, he holds a Master’s Degree in Digital Arts from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and he worked as a professor with a focus on interactive design, generative design, augmented and virtual reality environments at the CODE university in Berlin. MAOTIK is well known for his immersive dome symphonies, where he creates and performs with his own audiovisual tools by generating 3D elements in real-time based on algorithms, in order to transform the perceptions of space. In constant collaboration with artists from other disciplines such as music, dance, theatre, and architecture, but also with scientists, he investigates the relation between arts and technology, exploring new artistic languages.
Over the last few years, his work has been presented at international festivals and institutions worldwide, such as Mutek Festival in Barcelona, Live cinema in Rio, Plums Festival in Moscow, Visions in Lima, Signal Festival in Prague, the British Film Institute in London, ARS Electronica in Linz, Miraikan Science Museum in Tokyo, B39 in Seoul or Funkhaus in Berlin.
Sense of Blue, by digital artist Maotik for La Prairie
He is the author of Sense of Blue, an exclusive installation commissioned by La Prairie and presented in Basel, during the 2021 edition of Art Basel. MAOTIK uses digital mastery and plays with a metaphoric representation of cobalt blue, the traditional sublime pigment discovered at the beginning of the 19th century, made from ground lapis lazuli, which was the most desirable colour at the time.
Based on digital algorithms, the artist created an immersive installation with motion sensors, and video projections, plunging the viewer gradually into the depths of night. He engages the audience by addressing multiple senses, and as a result, changing their perspective of reality and introducing them to a new experience, the one Cobalt Night.
In order to find out more about the idea behind this project and his artistic practice, we have invited MAOTIK to answer some questions:
SLEEK: Can you explain more about the real-time data and its importance in your immersive installations?
MAOTIK: I am a digital artist and I use a computer to create my work. I’ve always been interested in generative art, in the sense that things can be created and then grow or change through time due to its element of chance. Furthermore, I would define my work more as an audiovisual sculpture, a living organism, or a responsive environment. Throughout my creative process, I do not necessarily follow a certain timeline, but I focus more on the moment, using an event-based system. That’s why for me the connection with nature is important and inspiring. Imagine you go to the ocean at different times in a day, in the morning you would have a different experience than in the evening, or depending on the season these parameters change unpredictably. I love to include those parameters into my work, to allow some randomness which gives more space for freedom. As a performer, I can fully control the work manually, but I prefer to permit some happenstance which grants my work some human warmth.
What is the link between sensory and technology in your work?
Technology is a tool that sustains my multidisciplinary approach. I use creative coding to create my visual content or sound, but also for connecting all the elements together because I’m not just a visual artist.
I create using the computer, but at the same time, my work is addressed to different senses of the human body by using different sound frequencies, light designs, and lasers. In the end, people walk into my installations and are triggered by the full experience.
Maotik’s creative process; Image courtesy of the Artist and La Prairie
You are constantly collaborating with individuals from other industries, what is your most important collaborative project so far?
I don’t have one major collaborative project, because all of them are important to me. I often work with musicians, other artists, scientists, or architects. In terms of collaboration with brands, this is my first one, in particular on this scale. For my project with La Prairie focused on The Cobalt Night theme, I have combined media display, virtual reality, and augmented reality in order to create an immersive digital experience for the audience.
Sense of Blue, by digital artist Maotik for La Prairie
Where did the collaboration with La Prairie start from?
It started last year in November when the brand contacted me and asked if I wanted to create an installation on the theme of The Cobalt Night for Art Basel.
There were six months of intensive work, in order to materialize and translate my artistic vision on the topic of night and cobalt blue, which is also one of the most evocative colors in art history.
The Sense of Blue immersive installation simulates the night at different stages with its variations of blue, in this case I am using the cobalt blue light projection which has a warmer tone and relaxes the eye, along with smoke which creates a haze effect.
Maotik’s creative process; Image courtesy of the Artist and La Prairie
How do you engage with your audience?
In terms of the Sense of Blue installation, I immerse the public in a sort of narrative. I created a six-minute time-lapse where the audience starts a journey into the night and time. I simulated the changes that occur throughout the early night, late night, and deep night, returning again to the early night stage. The audience is like in a cocoon where they lose the notion of time and space due to the sound, projections that create volumetric lights, and the right amount of smoke haze which changes the perspective of the room. At this point, space feels massive… I basically invite the audience to experience my installation through different senses.
And last but not least, when did you decide to become an independent artist?
I think it was a natural path for me. I always consumed and liked art from any kind of discipline, visual, music, or cinema. At some point, I started studying design and digital media. I was passionate about it but I never had this obsession about becoming an artist, I just wanted to create things. But there was a moment in 2013 when I conceived an immersive AV performance called Dromos which I filmed and released six months after. The video went viral and my name was known everywhere in the digital art world, from that moment on, my projects and collaborations started following. So, I could say that this one piece of art kind of changed my life in a way.