For a sculpture to exist, any type of material must be modified and extracted on a three-dimensional plane. It can be additive or subtractive, as long as it gives meaning to the space. Although sculpture, as we know it, is constructed by our hands or altered through tactility, the process of observing sculpture strips its materiality. Through sight alone, humans may identify the medium of a sculpture, yet how can we be so certain? Unless one can grasp a form and experience its tactility, how can we verify its medium? 

Digital materiality activates the previous questions because of its ability to trigger simulations– seemingly real phenomena that do not exist beyond sight alone. Without tactility being the defining factor of reality, a digital sculpture is no less real than a sculpture in a museum with a “no touch” policy.

Tactility is no longer a form of artistic certification– this argument is frequently used to dismantle digital art’s validity and essence. Moreso, even if reality is determined by tactility, digital mediums like social media, video games, or online shopping still remove our presence from our physical world. Corporations like Meta are building the Metaverse, a simulation intended to replace our reality by portraying a seemingly habitable environment. The gravity of understanding the raw power of digital materiality lies between the acceptance and rejection of digital culture. Its power comes from its ability to render deceptive properties at speeds and scales unlike any other medium.  An artistic material with this potential must be well understood by art critics, curators, artists, researchers, galleries, and museums. Therefore, embracing digital art and opposing simulations like the Metaverse creates a contention worthy of critical observation. There exists a space in between these oppositions where the brute strength of digital materiality lies– a material capable of stealing our reality or one that may be the most immersive form of storytelling yet.

SCULPTURAL REALITY is a digital sculpture exhibition showcasing the works of three female artists: Carrie Chen, Eujue Lee, and Summer. Situated in the historic Nasher Garden, where Peggy Guggenheim herself exhibited the works of cutting-edge sculptors, these three digital artists respond to this site, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the contentions between physical and digital sculptures.