Newman Huo

FRENCH artists Gregory Lasserre and Anais met den Ancxt’s interactive sound installation, “Akousmaflore,” looks like it is composed of living musical plants.

When people approach the plants or touch them gently, they can produce a specific sound through invisible electrical sensors installed on the branches. If several people stroke the plants simultaneously, a concert is created.

Another work, “Kymapetra,” by the two French artists, is made of five stones and a basin of water.

When a spectator places his hand above a piece of stone, the gentle touch creates vibrations. The vibrations become a myriad of ripples on the water surface. The propagation of acoustic vibrations on the surface slowly draws a geometrical composition. The figures vary according to the intensity of the contact between the spectator and the stone.

The duo of Lasserre and Ancxt call themselves Scenocosme.

Their artwork consists of interactive art, music and architecture. With multiple forms of expression, they invite spectators to be in the center of musical or choreographic collective performances.

Since 2004, they have been exhibiting their work at biennales and festivals around the world.

Two of the French duo’s works are being displayed at the exhibition, “Augmented Senses: A China-France Media Art Project,” at The OCT Art & Design Gallery in Overseas Chinese Town (OCT), Nanshan District until Sept. 11.

Co-organized by French curator Charles Carcopino and Chinese curator Art Yan, the new media art exhibition features 28 works by about 30 Chinese and French media artists.

“The ‘Augmented Senses’ exhibition brings together two visions and two approaches: one from China and one from France, as Chinese and French artists carry out dialogues through their installation works,” said Carcopino.

“Digital technology has revolutionized lives all over the world,” he said.

“The frontiers imposed upon us by our five senses are continually pushed by technological progress,” he said. “Indeed, we often take for granted technology that didn’t exist until recently.”

Carcopino has been working as the head of the Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil studio in France since 2000. The studio is an audiovisual center for creating videos and screen stenography for stage.

Carcopino is the curator for the International Exit Festival at the Maison des Arts de Créteil and VIA festival. His last two exhibitions, “New Monsters” and “Dancing Machines,” have been touring the world and have reached more than 130,000 visitors each.

According to the Chinese curator Yan, the “Augmented Senses” exhibition is specially designed to bring audiences diverse “perceptual experiences” through in-depth connection and interaction with artworks, and allow them to observe and think about the development and trend of art, science, technology and culture.

The 28 works displayed at the “Augmented Senses” exhibition cover diverse styles, including images and visual devices, multi-purpose interactive devices, laser and mechanical devices, mini optical theater and large-scale space settings, digital generation art, and audiovisual art.

“Artists will interpret a new definition of Augmented Senses using their own aesthetic patterns and creative perspectives as well as scientific and technical approaches through sound, light, electricity and shadow,” Yan said.

Renowned Chinese artists participating in the exhibition include Hu Jieming, Du Zhenjun, Lin Jiun-ting, Yao Chung-han, and Wang Chung-kun.

Beginning with video art in the 1980s, Chinese new media art has developed rapidly in recent years, despite deep influence in the concept and style of European and American new media art. Today, an increasing number of Chinese artists are reflecting on diverse development patterns for media art.

In his large installation “The End Has No End,” Du digitally manipulates 60 LCD monitors which are attached to a huge steel frame resembling the digit “8.” The LCD screens present people of all ethnicities crawling in slow motion.

Audiences can influence the direction of the crawling people by clapping their hands or using their voices. Once the interaction stops, the people resume their original movement. Here lies the artist’s thinking behind the work: if a person’s direction is already predetermined, the desire for autonomy will eventually be crushed by society’s inevitable forward march, which is the brutality of today’s world.

Besides Lasserre and Ancxt, renowned French artists participating in the exhibition include Antoine Schmitt, Felicie d’Estienne d’Orves, Pierrick Sorin, and France Cadet.

Supported by the French Embassy in China, OCT Land (Shanghai) Investment Ltd, Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil, and French Institute in China, the exhibition is one keystone program of 2011 Festival Croisements, also known as Sino-French Cultural Spring.

Dates: Until Sept. 11

Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Closed Monday

Add: The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Overseas Chinese Town (深圳华侨城华·美术馆)

Buses: 21, 26, 32, 54, 59, 101, 105, 109, 121, 204, 209, 223, 234, 327, 328, 350, 370, 390

Metro: OCT Station (华侨城站), Exit C