Ars Electronica

Held each year in Linz, Austria, Ars Electronica brings together artists, museums, technologists and researchers from around the world. It is known for showcasing breakthrough ideas and setting international standards for digital culture.

In September 2025, the Gallery was invited to showcase its digital work, placing it alongside leading global organisations working at the edge of art and technology. 

Rebuilding exhibitions using digital technology 

Using digital tools, the National Gallery has rebuilt past exhibitions so they can be explored again in new ways. These projects are part of the Gallery’s [re]curated series, which looks at how digital technology can help us study and experience moments from art history in more depth, specifically from the influential ‘Artist’s Eye’ exhibitions that ran from the 1970s to the 1990s. These were exhibitions curated by living contemporary artists at the time, selecting National Gallery paintings and presenting them in new ways, often alongside their own works. 

The [re]curated series uses technologies such as Unreal Engine and the Gallery’s NGX virtual production studio to recreate them. It allows us to move through these exhibitions again, seeing how artworks were displayed, how spaces were conceived and designed, and how visitors might have experienced them at the time. The virtual models were carefully reconstructed using archival research, including floor plans, photographs and written material.

Presented at Ars Electronica 2025 

The rebuilt exhibitions were presented at the 2025 Ars Electronica festival, where audiences experienced them inside Deep Space 8k, Ars Electronica’s immersive projection environment. Deep Space combines floor and wall projections with high‑resolution 3D visuals, creating the feeling of stepping inside another place. 

Two models from the [re]curated series were shown at the festival – David Hockney Artist’s Eye exhibition from 1978 and Richard Hamilton Artist’s Eye exhibition from 1981. 

The project was introduced through a live presentation by Daniel Herrmann, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Projects at the National Gallery. His talk explored how digital reconstruction can act as both a research tool and a way of sharing exhibition history with new audiences. 

Alongside [re]curated, the Gallery showcased a wider range of digital projects, reflecting the breadth of experimentation and innovation from the NGX programme. This included the Imaginarium, a large‑scale immersive installation developed for the Gallery’s bicentenary, which invites visitors to explore art, creativity and storytelling through digital spaces.

Why this matters

By combining rigorous research with modern digital technology, projects like [re]curated help us rethink how exhibitions can be studied, shared and understood. 

Recreating these spaces makes it possible to ask new questions about curatorial decisions, exhibition design and cultural context. It also opens up new ways for audiences to engage with art history – not just by looking at artworks, but by stepping into the environments that once brought them together.