MedRX is moving in, scrapping its claws, expanding our perception of our surroundings and selves, propelling into new mediums and spaces while translating them into ones of understanding and awareness. It is a site of extensive and diversified experimentation through multi-dimensional and multi-sensory approaches. The new umbrella project at Medrar for Contemporary Art houses diverse activities that open realms beyond our current reality.
Powered by its tardigrades, ancient microorganisms that have survived in the most hostile environments, the project unlocks the flood gates to a new world of alternative possibilities.
MedRX tardigrades can withstand extremely high and low temperatures, endure oxygen deprivation and exposure to radiation; resilient, indestructible, and adaptable. They have travelled to different habitats and set the record as the only living organisms who can survive in outer space. As they float in their transparent shells to unknowns beyond our geological planes, they propel us into parallel realities, realms where our visual and sensorial perception is/transformed.
The capacities of immersive media to artistically and creatively translate space, place, and evoke empathy and care for areas of concern and communities of practice are foregrounded. MedRX is a long-term program that champions the creation of counter-narratives that reimagine our world and alter our understanding of global and local matters. Sprouting from the cooperative principles and progressive objectives of accessibility in digital fields nurtured by the Open Lab Egypt (OLE) project from 2009 to 2014, MedRX expands through the ideals of dynamic interactions, communication, and collaboration within the XR context.
MedRX provides unique interactive, participatory experiences and alternative spaces of experimentation for artists, audiences, and cultural practitioners to develop local knowledge in the field and provide artists and art practitioners with opportunities to explore, develop and showcase their XR projects. It strives to bridge the gap between alternative artistic research and production by facilitating and developing labs, workshops, exchanges, lectures, exhibitions, and events.It integrates new media, immersive technologies, extended realities that span virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, creative coding and digitronic arts with a multitude of visual and auditory artistic practices. These components are linked to one another to build a sustainable ecosystem of digital art production and technologies.
MedRX WORKSPACE provides a comprehensive range of devices needed for working with immersive technology and the post-production process of artistic outcomes. A space equipped with high-end graphics PCs, computing facilities, VR Headsets, including Oculus headsets, HTC Vive, 360/3D cameras, spatial audio recorders, various microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators, other immersive technology, and post-production software and programs. MedRX opens its workspace to all artists, cultural practitioners, and creators from different disciplines interested in enriching their artistic practices by experimenting with cutting-edge technologies and reflecting on what possibilities emerge from this intersection. It seeks to connect peers, experts, and amateurs from various digital, visual and multidisciplinary arts to create a collaborative environment with diverse audiences, curators, researchers, programmers, designers, and engineers.
