Alien Action: Virtual hit art show for Hastings

A virtual reality art show at Hastings City Art Gallery is expected to be popular after proving itself to be an international hit.

Terminus is an art show that immerses viewers into five different worlds.

Each world is a five-minute virtual reality experience, based on the artwork of Jess Johnson paired with the computer animation of Havelock North's Simon Ward.

"Jess has been drawing this crazy-alien-psychedelic world since about 2013," Ward said.

"We created five five-minutes-long virtual reality experiences that you can go into by coming into the gallery and traversing through a kind of crazy floor-mat maze that's on there.

"And while you're in there you can see all Jess's artwork and her quilts that she collaborates on with her mother."

The immediate surroundings of the five stations where goggles are worn by viewers are the same as on-screen, which heightens the virtual reality experience.

Ward said the work was commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia in 2018.

"Since then it's toured all over Australia through all the regional galleries, through the National Gallery, and Tauranga Art Gallery is touring it around New Zealand.

Terminus is a virtual-reality exhibition at Hastings City Art Gallery. Image / Jess Johnson

"It's been in Whangarei, Lower Hutt, Tauranga and Hastings.

"We've taken it to New York and Tokyo, it was in the Beijing Film Festival in China.

"It was going to be at South by Southwest but Covid hit and we missed out on that one."

He said the show was good for all ages.

"If you're feeling like you might be a bit freaked out by technology, definitely come and give it a go because it's a really, really different experience."

The two Kiwi artists met in Melbourne through mutual friends.

Simon lives in Wellington but grew up in Havelock North.

He credits Havelock North with giving him the breadth of ability to mix computer programming with art.

"I really enjoyed going to Havelock High because it was such a kind of arts-orientated school," Ward said.

"The music school was amazing when I was there and there were some incredible art teachers.

"I really felt encouraged in that realm and the computer science department was amazing too.

"I definitely didn't expect to be in the art world.

"Music videos, video making and animation were my passion, but through Jess having such a strong art practice it's kind of drawn me into this different zone, which is great.

"It's pretty amazing to be able to just create what we want and have it available for people to come and see for free.

"Both Jess and I have similar, science fiction kind of nerdy pursuits... pop culture, comic books and sci-fi novels.

"We've always wanted to bring the kind-of weird side to little kids growing up in small towns.

"So I'm super-stoked to be here in Hastings."

Terminus runs at Hastings City Art Gallery until October 24 in the Holt Gallery.