Ryan Koopmans & Alice Wexell

Sweden

Ryan Koopmans (BA, MFA) is a lens-based artist specializing in reviving abandoned architecture through digital techniques. Partnering with his wife, Swedish artist Alice Wexell, they create captivating digital artworks. Their celebrated project, "The Wild Within," debuted in 2021 and has been collected and exhibited worldwide. The Wild Within is a series of digital artworks that bring new life into abandoned buildings from a bygone era. ​ Based on real-world physical spaces, an animated rebirth into a digital realm is created. ​ Ryan Koopmans & his partner Alice Wexell visited different locations around the world over several years, exploring ruins and photographing structures that have undergone dramatic transition. ​ Upon returning, they digitally introduced vegetation, modified the structure and lighting, and animated the scenes with the intention of reviving the empty spaces, essentially bringing life back into the rooms. ​​ The results are a surreal collision between the past and future, natural and manmade, physical and digital, and the real and imaginary.​ The aim of the artwork is to create a sense of surreal tranquility whilst referencing the themes of architectural history, urban exploration, and the resurgence of nature. ​ Many of the buildings depicted in The Wild Within have been demolished in recent years, further emphasizing the theme of time passing in the cycle of growth and decay.

Koopmans, of Canadian-Dutch heritage, explores the built environment's impact on societies. Wexell, with a particular interest in 3D art and photography, co-creates surreal environments using new technologies. 


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Euphoria

Euphoria_Ryan_Koopmans__Alice_Wexell_3D.mp4

'Euphoria' is a digital artwork that conveys a compelling narrative about the cycle of time, the resurgence of nature, and the socio-historical nuances of architectural landscapes. This 1/1 piece is a collision of the past and future, as well as the physical and digital worlds.


Part of the series 'Symphony' and the collection 'The Wild Within', 'Euphoria' brings an abandoned historic building back to life by combining photography and animation to create a surreal, meditative, moving architectural space. The artwork aims to revive this vacant space, essentially bringing life back into the building.


Ryan Koopmans and his partner Alice Wexell travelled around the world for several years, exploring and photographing forsaken buildings and unique architectural sites. They were drawn to these locations based on their historical, cultural, and architectural qualities. Locations include ancient temples in the mountains of Armenia, abandoned sanatoriums in Georgia, ruined villas in the Middle East and beyond. Once the architecture is photographed, the images are modelled into virtual environments, and overgrown plant-life is added digitally. Lighting and structure are then modified, an original musical composition by Swedish composer Karl-David Larson is created, and the static picture is transformed into a moving image that loops seamlessly.

The architecture featured in 'Euphoria' is situated within an interesting context, marked by a unique backstory. The real-life structure is situated in Tskaltubo, a small Georgian town that was once a popular health destination during the Soviet Union. Thousands of people visited the town’s sanatoriums annually from the 1940s to 1990s. After the USSR collapsed, the buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair. Since the early 1990s, the Sanatoriums have been slowly dismantled and stripped of their valuable materials, leaving empty shells of what were once grandiose classical structures.

This abandoned ballroom in the Shaxtiori Sanatorium, constructed 1951 in Socialist Classicism style, proved to be the perfect environment for the artists to apply their creative touch for 'Euphoria'. The building continues to deteriorate and is being slowly disassembled, further emphasizing the primary theme of the work, the passing of time in a cycle of growth and decay.


Through these artworks, the artists aim to transport the viewer into an alternate place and time. This fusing of documentary-style photography with the imaginative potential of animation techniques results in a captivating looping digital artwork.

technique

3d

format

landscape

duration

00:40

year

2023

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