VACADES’ AUGMENTED UTOPIA

Stumbling upon Timo Helgert’s work, the AR visual artist who goes by the moniker Vacades, is like stepping into an immersive world that is otherworldly, yet strangely familiar. He utilises pioneering digital techniques, augmented reality and 3D design to create art that instils hope, using elements of everyday life — like train stations and cityscapes — and juxtaposes this with elements that offer a glimpse into a serene, augmented utopia.

Utilising these spaces that are familiar creates a sensory rupture with Vacades' works, one that combines both the nostalgic and unusual in an immersive, hyper-realistic manner. It’s an artistic approach that allows viewers to find beauty in the banal, splicing elements like organic scenes comprised of nature with the every day, or the mundane. Since the age of 14, Timo has obsessed over visual design and its many touchpoints, constantly learning and refining to forge his own distinctive and experimental visual language.

With “Vacades’ Augmented Utopia”, UrlfreezeShops sits down with the visual artist as he creates a bespoke piece for the The Crocs Echo Realtree Edge™ Clog, delving into his creative process, inspirations and juxtaposing the familiar with the otherworldly.

How did you initially enter the world of digital art? What led you to the point of creating virtual installations?

I started my online art journey at the age of 14. I simply wanted to express myself creatively, because I felt pushed towards direction in school that didn’t resonate with me. I felt like they wanted to morph me into some kind of “German” stereotype, who likes soccer and beer or speaks a certain way. But it didn’t seem right and I felt a lot of pressure. So, after the long days at school, I allocated my entire evening and sometimes even nights to sitting in front of the computer and studying by myself about 3D, animation, design, Motion Graphics and various topics that sparked my interests. I started my first venture in AR in 2016 when I started to look for new ways to enhance the way I tell important stories. Using new digital techniques, augmented reality, and 3D design, my aim is to create escapist art that instils hope and peace in a busy world. Adobe selected me as one of their three AR residents and that really hypercharged my feelings towards AR. The people at Adobe were great in the way they asked me difficult questions and challenge me to think in news ways. Since then, I have worked with many brands on AR projects and this has really impacted my style.

What inspires your creative process?

In terms of motives, I draw inspiration from memories and from the world around me. I enjoy observing the clockworks of a busy city; I like to understand people and study psychology to find answers to emotional problems; I enjoy studying about different cultures and learning about traditions. There is so much to learn in this world and as soon as you open your eyes, you will see that anything can be an inspiration.

However, in terms of the technical: each space offers something unique. For example, when you start working in 2D, you are working on a flat canvas and you can use this to your advantage. However, in 3D, a full new dimension opens up and if you were used to techniques that worked in 2D space, for example by enhancing footage with visual effects overlays, this won’t work so easily in 3D anymore, since now you have to deal with the artwork from each perspective. My mentor told me to fixate on this new dimension and ask myself “what idea can I realise that would be impossible in 2D? How can I use this new medium to the fullest?”. When I started working with AR, I always kept his quote in the back of my mind. With AR the viewer has a lot of control over your art. You cannot “direct” them anymore, by preselecting the perspective, composition, lighting, viewing distance, etc. So, you have to design your artwork in such a way that it will look good to anyone, be it another artist who understands how professional lighting and composition works or someone who just pulls out a smartphone to have a fun experience.

Your work seems to often focus on the combination of the familiar and the unusual or otherworldly – how does this juxtaposition influence your practice?

I would say it’s part of my art statement. When I think about our fast world and endless scrolling, I think that we often can get disconnected from reality quickly. So, I try to take places that are real, grounded in the real space, where people might have memories from their childhood or holidays and then transform them into something that is unusual. That way people are more invested in the creation and feel something. Especially now at a time where content is produced every second, there are thousands of new artists each day doing daily renders or posting a new artwork. It might be beautiful and impressive, but when you look at it, what do you feel?

So that’s why you often see familiar places with the unusual in my artworks. One example: the subway. People hate it, I would say. Especially in the morning, when you haven’t slept a lot and there’s no seat. Why would I choose such a negative place? Because of that negative emotion. My creative challenge is to turn this negative emotion into something positive. But how do we do this? By picking up the viewer with something that they know, using their strong emotion and then allowing them to think for a moment and convert it to a new, more positive emotion. That’s why I added millions of flowers and butterflies to the train interior. Now we can imagine how beautiful it would be, to walk in the soft grass, smell the fresh flowers and listen to the beautiful bird sounds.

Combining organic scenes with everyday spaces, the communication between the manmade and natural often drives your work. What is it that excites you about the combination of the natural and the digital in your CGI works?

First of all, I think that nature is extremely powerful, beyond language. I remember a time when I was a kid, just running off to the parks or forests and exploring the wild diversity of nature — it was so beautiful and exciting. The different flowers, the patterns, the colors, the animals. I think we all feel something after spending a long time in a busy city — we get to visit a forest, breathe in the fresh air. Or in spring, when the flowers return after a long winter and we can enjoy the vivid colors. We as humans have some sort of connection to nature and I think it’s a very powerful motive to use for art. So, you might have noticed that my work is heavily influenced by nature and the natural planet. I love contrast. Growing up in a rural German village, surrounded by forests with no cinemas but clean air and beautiful nature, it was always something I took for granted. Everyone in my village thought it was normal. I only started to truly miss and think about it when I moved to Seoul, South Korea, a megacity where a blue sky is celebrated because it’s so rare. And this is when my mind truly started to explore. What is the connection between urban places and nature? Why do we need to have black-and-white thinking? What would the world look like if we had balance? Through my art, I want to explore this connection in several ways. My goal is to create this unique perspective where we don’t take everyday objects for granted but appreciate them.

What is so inspiring about Augmented Reality to you?

Many people think that the Metaverse and VR is the future, but I am a strong believer that actually AR is the future we should aim for. While VR is extremely fun and you can build your dreamworlds, with AR, you can combine reality and your fantasy, creating a unique experience that can combine both instead of isolating them.

 I think AR will be a game changer for all of us, once it’s ready and more developed, because imagine what the phone has done to people. It brought the internet to your palm and you can carry it anywhere. Everything has changed. Remember the time when we had to use the noisy modem to dial in and then the entire family couldn’t use the phone line? That was just a few years ago. And just so quickly the internet and smartphones have combined this digital space with the real world. But, in order to access it, we need to look at a small tiny window — aka our screen — and access it through taps and swipes. I think this is cool but not efficient. Imagine our real world, how we interact, how we see and feel it. Now imagine that the entire internet can be overlaid, if you want to. You will live in a world that feels magical. As an artist now, when I travel I need to carry a large PC with a heavy GPU in it and a large LED screen to see what I’m making. Now, imagine a time where AR is ready, you bring some sunglasses, turn them on — boom, you have 3 ultrawide monitors in your hotel room, you can work without boundaries. You can preview 3D in actual 3D space. This will unlock a lot of creativity and efficiency, not only for artists, but for the fashion industry, design, lifestyle and many more. That’s why I’m so inspired by the recent trend towards AR. I can’t wait to leave our little tiny “internet windows” behind and just overlay the internet by combining it with the real world.

Working within a medium that is constantly progressing because of technological advancements, how do you see technology shaping your creative practice in the future?

We often define ourselves through the platform or the technology that we are using. It was even more clearly defined a few years ago; for example, about a decade ago when I was younger, people who were mentoring me asked me if I want to either be a 3D or 2D artist, because doing both would be impossible. But now with technology evolving daily, new AI techniques popping up every week and our phones morphing into complex tools that we could have only dreamed of, all the areas merge. For example, for this Crocs video, while I traditionally would have defined myself as a 3D artist, I used Visual AI to recreate the building facade. I collaborated with a photographer team in London, while calling them from Seoul and directing the shoot in real time. I then recorded and edited the sound using a tablet and did the digital rendering through a rented rendering server stationed in the Ukraine. All these areas could be merged so easily and quickly and when I think about the future, I think that everyone will be an artist. Everyone will be able to express themselves freely and realize their ideas, be it 3D, sound, whatever through technology. As an artist, I’m fascinated by where this technology will take us. It opens up a new realm of possibilities for creative expression, which in turn has the power to touch and move viewers in much more pronounced ways.