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King’s Cross will soon be home to Lightroom, a new immersive art space, and is launching with a heady, ultra-colourful installation by the giant of British art that is David Hockney. Lightroom is a four-storey-high digital art space designed for cutting-edge projection and sound work, harnessing the power of the latest technology to really drop you in the art.
The show will take visitors on a journey through Hockney’s whole career, featuring iconic artworks alongside set designs and specially commissioned new pieces, accompanied by a Nico Muhly soundtrack and a Hockney voiceover. It’s half art exhibition, half theatrical installation. Big Dave has been, he went to visit last week, and gave it the full Hockers seal of approval. Here he is gazing in wonder at his own creation.
This isn’t the first, or the only, immersive art experience in London. There’s an unstoppable tidal wave of digital art shenanigans happening in this city, with immersive Klimt, Van Gogh and Kahlo exhibitions, as well as Frameless, a new permanent digital art space in Marble Arch.
The difference here is that while those projects take existing works and turn them into digital environments, Lightroom intends to focus on new art, designed specifically for the space. Frida Kahlo never meant for her art to be projected up and down the walls of a Docklands warehouse so some company could make a packet selling tickets to people who love taking selfies, you know. But Hockney himself has been fully involved in the production of this new exhibition, which makes it look considerably more valid than the others.
David Hockney: ‘Bigger & Closer (Not Smaller & Further Away)’, Lightroom, 12 Lewis Cubitt Walk, N1C 4DY. Jan 25-Apr 23 2023. Details and booking here.
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