"The value of art is to take us to a state where we're suddenly completely engaged — where we're without a sense of future or past."

JOSEPH AKEL: In the last year or so, you&rsquo;ve worked on large-scale installations&mdash;Mirage in the deserts of Palm Springs, your &ldquo;Underwater Pavilions&rdquo; off the coast of Catalina Island, and The Garden in Arhaus, Denmark&mdash;that speak to experience, embodiment, time, and perception. Is there a conceptual thread that links all of these together?

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DOUG AITKEN: One of the things that you brought up just now was this idea of connectivity and experience. As you were talking, I was thinking about the &ldquo;Underwater Pavilions&rdquo; and the first time I had a chance to swim underwater towards the sculptures. There was this moment where I found myself sinking under the Pacific Ocean with a weight belt on over my wetsuit, and in that moment, I had this out-of-body experience. Here I am, I&rsquo;m weightless, I&rsquo;m in this completely vulnerable and foreign situation, and everything feels disorienting, and I&rsquo;m sinking.&nbsp;

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[Photograph by Julien Roubinet]

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"Underwater Pavillions" 2016

"Underwater Pavillions" 

The Garden 2017

That begs the question: If the value of art is to somehow make us more present, does that imply that we are living in a more disengaged time? 

&nbsp;

I read that more images were generated last year than in the history of humankind. We have this incredible velocity that we&rsquo;re moving through, in terms of connectivity, but also just information. I think we are in a very Darwinist era, which poses some very interesting questions: How do we adapt to this? How do we survive? How do we live and move through this new system? I&rsquo;ve noticed that there&rsquo;s this pendulum: On one hand, we exist in this state of incredible speed and, on the other, there is a new desire for the real, a new desire for the tactile.

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[Image: Inside Me, 2018, clear mirror, resin and concrete.&nbsp;Courtesy of Doug Aitken and 303 Gallery, photograph by Dakota Higgins]

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Mirage 2017 Installation, Photograph by Ryan Houchin

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Artist Doug Aitken Is on a Mission to Bring Us Back to Reality

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Artist Doug Aitken Is on a Mission to Bring Us Back to Reality

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