Explore Sugar Coated Lies by Elisa Insua at KYOTO ART CENTER
What was it all about?
The exhibition of Elisa Insua’s Sugar Coates Lies took place at KYOTO ART CENTER between 26th August and 11 September 2022. It featured new artworks; 3 new hybrid physical-digital sculptures accompanied by a series of mosaic tiles and sculptural graphs, as well as a series of short films about the project.
Expired candy sculptures make a statement
Argentinian artist Elisa Insua employed luxury architecture as a framework through which she considered the paradoxes of materialist temptations. Using expired sugary treats, a medium that represents the temptation of consumption which provides instant but ephemeral satisfaction, Insua looked beyond the architecture’s functional purposes and explored its role as a communicator of prevailing ideologies and measures of wealth.
The 3 main sculptures depicted the bases of some of the most luxurious architectural buildings in the world; the most expensive private residency, Antilia House in Mumbai; the tallest building ever built, Burj Khalifa in Dubai; and Trump Tower in New York, a symbol of economic power in private hands.
Experiencing reality differently
Visitors to the exhibitions were able to experience the physical sculptures and view their digital Augmented Reality components with the provided iPads. Using the strata mobile app, the remaining parts of the buildings were activated and revealed. The interplay between the physical and digital elements allowed the exhibition visitors to explore the assemblages made from real expired candy and their digital counterparts, modelled by Elisa Insua with custom-made strata tools in the 3D modelling software Blender. Each sculptural base can be completed with this interactive component.
Fragments of the buildings
The exhibited mosaic tiles form part of a series of limited editions of a 100 and were based on elements of the aforementioned buildings. Similarly to the main sculptures, they are assemblages created from expired candies that have been cast in resin and every tile is unique in its design.
Telling a story through statistics
In the exhibition, the visitors were also able to familiarise themselves with 3 graphs depicting some of the most important statistics about wealth inequality. The graphs were hand-made by the artist using found objects, as is common in Elisa Insua’s versatile practice.
Short films about the project
On top of that, visitors were able to watch three short films created for the exhibition, which explore Elisa Insua’s practice, the main themes behind the project and our interdisciplinary collaboration.
Exhibition walkthrough and Q&A
To celebrate the first public presentation of the project, on 29th August, we hosted an event at KYOTO ART CENTER during which the artist Elisa Insua was in conversation with the strata curatorial team. They discussed the exhibition, new artworks, the creative processes behind making the physical-digital pieces and the potential for Augmented Reality to create new versions of our world. The audience also had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the collaboration between the artist and strata Creative Technology Studio.
The show goes on!
Although the exhibition has come to an end, Sugar Coated Lies continues to live on. The 3 artworks along with a limited series of mosaic tiles are for sale and are available to purchase via the Sugar Coated Lies website. All owners will gain physical artworks along with exclusive access to the strata’s mobile application and the AR experience. All artworks are sold as hybrid physical-digital NFTs.
Conscious of the environmental effects of blockchain
As a core element of this project, for every NFT purchased, we will protect 10m² of the forest through Banco de Bosques, a wildlife protection organization in Argentina, which was personally selected by the artist Elisa Insua.
