A Time When Art Is Everywhere – teamLab

August 25, 2018 through September 8, 2019

We do not see any separation between us and the world: the two form a whole. teamLab

Dreamlike landscapes, fantasized fauna and flora and creatures of the sea are reimagined in this visual and immersive experience presented by the art collective teamLab. With a recent major exhibition at La Villette in Paris and the launch of the digital-only museum MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless in Tokyo, CAM premiers teamLab to North Carolina for the first time.

A dynamic collaborative of over 500 artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects make up the teamLab team. They aim to explore new relationships between humans and nature, and between oneself and the world through art. Digital technologies have allowed us to liberate art from the physical and transcend boundaries. We do not see any separation between humans and nature and between oneself and the world: the two form a whole. Everything takes place in the long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless continuity of life. At the frontiers of art, science and technology, each of the three installations in A Time When Art is Everywhere is a journey in itself: playful, poetic and hypnotic, transporting the visitor to an enchanted and colorful world.

CAM’s teamLab installations include experiences for all ages. With Sketch Aquarium visitors can observe the power of their creative imagination. Each participant is invited to color a drawing of a sea creature of his or her preference. Once completed, the paper is scanned and the image is projected onto a giant virtual aquarium. Visitors will be able to see their creation come to life and swim with all of the other sea creatures and may also touch the fish to see them swim away, or touch the virtual food bag to feed the fish.

The interactive artwork Story of the Time when Gods were Everywhere invites visitors to touch the symbols on the screen and see them evolve into the images that they represent. As more images are created, a story begins to emerge. The objects that emerge from the symbols influence one another and are influenced by the actions of other people.

The digital creation Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12 illustrates an evolving story featuring the theme of “The clash, cycle, and symbiosis between nature and culture.” The 12 screens of the artwork illuminate how the world of the artwork is created in three-dimensional space on a computer, visualizing ultra-subjective space within 12 differing perspectives. The surface peels away, revealing the underside of the artworks, allowing a glimpse into the creative process behind it.

Artwork courtesy of teamLab and Pace Gallery

Recovery in Flight: The Sculptures of Grainger McKoy

Member Preview: Friday, October 12, 2018, 6-8 PM

Opening October 13, 2018 through March 10, 2019

From the detailed beginnings of the single iconic feather, Grainger McKoy transforms his intricately carved birds into gravity-defying sculptures that play with form and space. McKoy finds the greatest poetry from observation and understanding of the bird’s upstroke, or recovery stroke, as he describes, “This motion of the bird is when it is least productive and most vulnerable, yet here can be found a grace and beauty that exist nowhere else.”

The renowned South Carolina wood carver and artist grew up in Sumter, South Carolina, and attended Clemson University, earning a degree in zoology, while also studying architecture. After graduating, McKoy apprenticed for eighteen months with the renowned bird carver Gilbert Maggioni in Beaufort. McKoy’s work has been exhibited at the High Museum of Art, Brandywine River Museum and Brookgreen Gardens.

Along the Eastern Sea Road: Hiroshige’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō

Opening October 13, 2018 through March 10, 2019

Master printmaker Utagawa Hiroshige’s Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō is among the most celebrated works of Japanese art. This series depicts the spectacular landscapes and fascinating characters encountered on the journey from Edo (now Tokyo) to the imperial capital of Kyoto. The Tōkaidō road was the most-traveled route between these two important cities, figuring heavily into popular Japanese art and culture in the mid-1800s. Cameron Art Museum presents the complete set of 55 prints from Hiroshige’s monumental oban series, known as the Upright Tōkaidō, created in 1855.

In 1995, Dr. Isabel Bittinger (Winston-Salem, NC) presented a gift of 108 Japanese ukiyo-e color woodblock prints to the Cameron Art Museum. The prints were bound in an album and included two series: Tōkaidō gojusan-tsugi (Fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō) by Andō Hiroshige and Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), attributed to Utagawa Kunisada II. This extraordinary album remained in Dr. Bittinger’s family and was originally owned by Reverend Edmund Bittinger, a Presbyterian chaplain who traveled with Commodore Matthew Perry aboard the Susquehanna, on the historic 1853-54 inaugural U.S. naval entry into Japan.

Nearer to Nature

Opening October 13, 2018 through March 10, 2019

Humans have always been inspired and influenced by the world that surrounds us. Featuring artwork from CAM’s permanent collection, Nearer to Nature highlights this fascination and contemplation of the natural world. Artists in the exhibition include Elliott Daingerfield, Minnie Evans, William Frerichs, Will Henry Stevens, along with contemporary artists such as Mark Flood, Guy Laramée and Hiroshi Sueyoshi.

Illumination 2018

Opening December 8, 2018 through January 13, 2019

The highly popular Illumination returns for its 4th year to CAM. Art, like a lantern, illuminates the mystery, empathy and wonder of human existence. Illumination draws inspiration from traditional lantern festivals, marking the transitional moment of season’s change and year’s end, reflecting on the past while creating energy and hope for the future. Inspired by light and nature, this juried exhibition will highlight artists from coast to coast displaying their original illuminated sculptures throughout the holiday season. Cameron Art Museum recognizes the crucial role of artists and art in creating an exceptional quality of life for a community.

On Sunday, December 9 from 4-7 p.m. will be the fourth annual Floating Lantern Ceremony. This event is an opportunity for Remembrance, Reflection and Gratitude. There’s no charge to attend, but participants are encouraged to purchase and decorate a $12 lantern sleeve. Write, draw, express your love, gratitude, and wishes on a lantern and watch as it floats on the museum pond. This enchanting event will be accompanied by live music and refreshments for purchase.

While You're Here..

• Stroll through the ART PARK with sculptures by Charlie Brouwer, Clyde Jones, Vollis Simpson, Mel Chin and Dixon Stetler located throughout.

  
  

• Take an up close look at Cameron Art Museum's newest arrival, a whirly-gig by Vollis Simpson.
  [removed until January 2019 for conservation]

  
  

• Visit the CIVIL WAR ENTRENCHMENT on the Civil War grounds. A NC Civil War Trails historical marker identifies the location of the "Forks Road Engagement" the site of the Confederate Army's hold off of the Union troop's advance on Wilmington from Fort Fisher for 3 days starting on February 20, 1865.

  
  

• Enjoy a stroll along the pond and through the NATURE TRAILS located on the 9.3 acres of the museum campus. The trail winds its way from the museum front door north to our historic woodlands. On the trail you will observe native plant and animal life. Also walk along the FRUIT GROVE newly planted in 2011 in honor of Paul W. Phillips, CAM's Senior Security Guard. The orchard contains white and black muscadine grapes, peach, pear, fig, apple, plum and blueberry plantings.

  
  

• Walk FEDERAL POINT ROAD SECTION one of the few remaining sections of the primary thoroughfare between Wilmington and Fort Fisher in the 1860s.

  
  

• PICNIC AREAS located throughout Pyramid Park. Ride your bike over to the museum and grab lunch at CAM Cafe to enjoy at the picnic tables.