Designer and new-media artist Dennis Fabian Peter resides in Panaji, Goa. He is an architect by training who also produces exhibition-design work.
His creative project "Non-Linear" practices across multidisciplinary mediums and merges art with technology.
Flow.0: An immersive light and sound based installation at the Mumbai Urban Art Festival.
Our Conversation with Dennis was insightful and inspired. Here are Dennis’s answers to our top 3 questions.
Q. How long does it take to assemble and install one of your Art pieces? Do you enjoy this process like you do creating them?
A: This particular installation at MUAF took about 9 days on-site to install, but prior to the on-site installation, there was a lot of back-end work. All the lights were individually fabricated by me and my team (this took another 6-7 days to fabricate over 160 lights) and the lights were eventually shipped to Mumbai. In addition, there was a lot of work on software/code to develop for the installation along with the soundscape (which took another 4-5 days).
The on-site installation process is often much more stressful for me, because there are so many things that can go wrong when working with electronics and technology, and indeed I did face some issues during installation. But there are very few emotions that feel as good as getting to view my installation function in the real world for the first time - and seeing the end product outside a computer screen. Often when things go wrong during the installation process, I treat them as an opportunity to learn and improve my processes for my future installations - there is always space & time to learn new things, and my practice is based on this idea of constant experimentation and exploring outside your own technical boundaries.
‘Bionic Bloom’: An interactive Art piece consisting of 90 mechanical ‘blooms’ that can be individually controlled by hand gestures.
Q. Your art interacts with humans and not just with their minds but also their bodies, what made you want to explore this aspect of Art?
I deeply enjoy the field of interaction design, and how we as humans interact with our environment. I like to evoke a sense of awe within my viewers, and coming from a design background I am fascinated by how our habitable environment can deploy technology to create these feelings within a viewer. My art is primarily experiential and it does not take much to interpret it - I like my art being simple in this way. I don't enjoy reading long textual descriptions to understand art, either you can appreciate it, or you don't. So, having this aspect of interaction and response is a great way to invoke and draw a viewer's attention to your piece.
Q. What kind of Art resonates with you the most?
I am a huge geek and I love anything that has to do with technology/electronics and science. I also have a deep love for music and sound and I try to incorporate sound into my installations as much as I can. A lot of my work is created by using algorithms and code (this is called generative art) and there are a lot of generative artists who I look up to.
Some artists who inspire me are - Ryoji Ikeda, Brian Eno, Anders Hoff, Studio Drift, 404.zero and Nonotak.
Apart from artists, I am also constantly inspired by production houses that work with tech to create immersive and interactive experiences too such as Architecture Social Club, Tundra and Moment Factory.
Now that we know about Dennis’s work inspiration, process and motives, here’s some more of his work for all of us to enjoy!
‘An Ocean in a Drop’: A kinetic installation made in collaboration with origami artist Aditi Anuj and Sapna Khatri.
What do you think of Dennis Fabian’s work? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you wish to witness Dennis’s interactive art pieces in person you can visit Mumbai Urban Art Festival at the Sassoon Dock till 22nd February, 2023.