Daniel Birnbaum Curates VR/AR Section at Frieze New York

Former Moderna Museet director Daniel Birnbaum, who left the museum world to lead Acute Art, curates 'Electric,' a virtual and augmented reality section at Frieze New York (May 2–5). The section features works by Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Anish Kapoor, Koo Jeong A, Städelschule Architecture Class (SAC), R. H. Quaytman, Rachel Rossin, and Timur Si-Qin. Two alternating programs, Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC), run hourly. Birnbaum notes that VR/AR offers a brief window for free experimentation. Works include Kapoor's 'Into Yourself, Fall,' a VR journey inside the human body; Djurberg & Berg's 'It Will End in Stars,' an immersive dreamscape; SAC's 'The Third Glass,' based on Duchamp's 'The Large Glass'; Rossin's 'Man Mask,' a meditation on Call of Duty environments; Quaytman's '+ x, Chapter 34,' inspired by Hilma af Klint; Si-Qin's 'A New Protocol,' proposing a secular spirituality; and Koo Jeong A's 'Prerequisites 7,' an AR piece using QR codes.