A film by Claude Mossessian © Claude Mossessian

Digital Arabesques 2015, Miguel CHEVALIER

Generative and interactive virtual-reality installation
Cultural Season France-Morocco 2015 
Organized by French Institute of Tetouan, Morocco
Dar Benjelloun, Tetouan Medina quarter (Morocco)
From 3th April to 15th April 2015

Software: Cyrille Henry and Antoine Villeret
Technical production : Voxels Productions
Music : Michel Redolfi

Miguel Chevalier takes inspiration from the aesthetics of Moroccan culture to create “Digital Arabesques 2014”, a generative and interactive virtual-reality installation shown in association with four French Institutes in four different cities in Morocco: Fes, Agadir, Tétouan et Essaouira. 

“Digital Arabesques 2015” revisits the Moroccan artistic tradition via the medium of digital art as it spreads out across the floor like a huge light carpet in Dar Benjelloun in Tetouan. 
The piece features evolving multicolored digital scenes composed of ornamental patterns in reference to the art of zelliges, arabesques and mosaics, as well as the world of “Mashrabiya” (latticework). “Digital Arabesques” shows sophisticated geometrical patterns based on overlapping lines driven by mathematical logic. These moving patterns create a wave that forms and deforms to infinity to reveal a colorful living universe that is constantly renewed. This artwork is interactive through the use of infrared sensors. When the viewers interact with the piece they create disturbances under their feet in the trajectories of these mobile, interlaced patterns and new surprising compositions emerge. The result is an unprecedented interactive and visually immersive experience.
This creative work harks back to the idea of the trompe l’oeil technique in art, disturbing the perceptions of visitors while creating the sensation of a shifting floor or wall that loses its shape and moves. The reference here is to the great Kinetic Art and Op Art artists such as Victor Vasarely, who conducted the research into movement and optical illusion which predated the digital art of today.
In the art of zelliges, Miguel Chevalier discovered a decorative manifestation similar to his own language as well as a connection with digital algorithmic art in its characteristic use of the geometry of forms and mathematical laws. Miguel Chevalier enhances these features by the use of computer software to enrich the designs in the realization of his piece. In this way, Islamic art finds a natural connection with algorithmic and digital art.
In the same way that the zelliges of Morocco develop from floor to ceiling, "Digital Arabesques" covers the floor or the wall with vivid patterns reminiscent of this colourful land where the sun is omnipresent. Miguel Chevalier’s artwork transports the viewer to a world of kaleidoscopic constellations and plunges us into the magical universe of “One Thousand and One Nights” and flying carpets.

Upcoming installations "Digital Arabesques" 2015, Miguel Chevalier :

- Derb Lâalouj, Essaouira (Morocco) 
French institute of Essaouira 
Opening on 22 April 2015 
From 23 April to 3 May 2015

Miguel CHEVALIER "Digital Arabesques 2015" Tétouan (short version)

[Miguel CHEVALIER Digital Arabesques 2015 Tétouan (short version)](https://vimeo.com/124600107) from [Claude Mossessian](https://vimeo.com/claudemossessian) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com).

Ornamental, digital designs blanket an ancient floor in light in [Miguel Chevalier](http://www.miguel-chevalier.com/en/)&#x2019;s latest production. The artist&#x2019;s third site-specific project in his _Digital Arabesques 2015_ series, which has so far graced the floors of buildings in [Fes](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/miguel-chevalier-wraps-morocco-in-virtual-mosaics) and Agadir, is his projection-mapped takeover of the Dar Benjelloun in Tétouan, Morocco. Blooming in latticed, geometrical patterns, Chevalier&#x2019;s designs emulate Moroccan architecture and mosaics, in particular the technique of zelliges and the artistry of Mashrabiya. As the viewer steps into the space, these compositions evolve, triggered by a network of infrared sensors throughout the room. As Mossessian explains in the video [description](https://vimeo.com/124600107), &#x201c;in this way, Islamic art finds a natural connection with algorithmic and digital art.&#x201d;

Each stage of the way, the projections have been documented by filmmaker [Claude Mossessian](https://vimeo.com/claudemossessian) and co-produced by the technical team at [Voxels Productions](http://www.voxels-productions.com/). _Digital Arabesques 2015_ is on display in the city of Tétouan from April 22 to May 3. The display will then travel to the last of the four Moroccan cities in its circuit, Essaouira.

Check out our past coverage of Miguel Chevalier's work below:

_[Miguel Chevalier Wraps Morocco in Virtual Mosaics](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/miguel-chevalier-wraps-morocco-in-virtual-mosaics)_

_[Projected Arabesque Textiles Adorn a Middle Eastern Waterfront](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/projected-arabesque-textiles-adorn-a-middle-eastern-waterfront)_

_[A Digital Magic Carpet Covers the Floor of an Italian Castle](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/a-digital-magic-carpet-covers-the-floor-of-an-italian-castle)_

_[Miguel Chevalier 3D Prints the Enormous Head of a Roman God](http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/miguel-chevalier-3d-prints-the-enormous-head-of-a-roman-god)_

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In the third of his 'Digital Arabesques 2015' in Morocco, the artist transforms the floor of Tétouan’s Dar Benjelloun. 

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Projection-Mapped Magic Carpets Continue Their Moroccan Takeover

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Projection-Mapped Magic Carpets Continue Their Moroccan Takeover

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