Digital Art on superyachts

The digital art scene is booming. Take this year’s Art Basel with its inaugural Digital Art Mile, or the Venice Biennale, which featured a host of digital art shows. Artverse in Paris, meanwhile, opened this year as a space dedicated to digital art exhibitions. The list goes on. The digital art landscape is vast, encompassing everything from NFTs and AI art to digital painting and beyond. Little wonder the superyacht world is catching on. 

Zaniz Jakubowski was one of the pioneers of digital art in the industry via her work on superyacht Luminosity. One of the most striking features of the yacht is her 370 square metre interactive LED ‘forest wall’ which stretches across five decks. Guests are followed by butterflies or fireflies (depending on the time of day) as they walk up the stairs – clocked by hidden motion sensors. “I wanted to challenge the conventional idea of a wall as just a static barrier,” explains Zaniz. “Instead, I envisioned something dynamic that could transform and respond to its environment – almost like a living, breathing entity within the yacht.”

Technically, the piece was challenging and required a blend of disciplines. Digital artists, engineers and software developers all came together to create an installation that responds in real time and blurs the lines between physical space and digital art. “At its core, this wall is about creating an experience that goes beyond traditional art and design,” says Zaniz. “It’s not just something to look at – it’s something to engage with, something that transforms based on your interaction.”

It’s a similar story at BREAKFAST, the fine art studio founded by visionary artist Zolty. One of his specialities is ‘kinetic art’ featuring computer-controlled moving elements. His kinetic sculpture The Pearl, which serves as the entrance piece on the Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, is a mammoth kinetic sculpture consisting of thousands of motorised tiles that mimic the sea’s movements in real time. “Our art is designed to be adaptable for yacht installations, whether through integrated sculptures or framed works that can simply be hung on the wall,” says Zolty.

Evolving our understanding of art

So what is the appeal of immersive art like this versus more traditional formats? For Zaniz, it’s about connection. “There’s something powerful about being able to interact with art,” she says. “It turns the experience into something personal. This isn’t just about observing; it’s about participating. It’s like a conversation between the piece and the viewer. You move, it reacts; you come back, it’s different. That creates an emotional connection that can be much deeper than with a static piece.”

Cinesite is another company specialising in immersive entertainment and will be talking about next level superyacht interiors at the Superyacht Design Festival early next year. “As interactive art evolves, it challenges traditional perceptions of what art can be,” says Andy McNamara Cinesite’s Head of CG. “It emphasises the role of the audience in the creation and interpretation of art, reshaping our understanding of the artistic process. This new medium is not so much about how things look or sound, but more about the experience and how they make you feel, which opens up huge potential to evolve what we perceive as art.”

And, of course, digital art is constantly becoming more sophisticated all the time. “We’re seeing digital art that’s more immersive, more interactive, and more integrated into spaces than ever before,” says Zaniz. “Real-time rendering, artificial intelligence, and more advanced sensors have allowed artists to create pieces that respond to viewers in real-time, which adds a whole new dimension to the experience. What’s exciting is that digital art is no longer just a screen-based medium. The line between art and environment is starting to blur, and that’s where I see digital art heading.”

Traditional art and digital art in harmony?

So where does all this immersive and interactive art leave the more conventional works? Traditionalists can rest easy it seems – at least according to the experts. “I remember 15 years ago when people predicted the internet would kill TV, but TV evolved and is now bigger than ever,” says Zolty. “Similarly, I don’t believe experiential works will “replace” traditional art, but I do think they will grow in popularity.”

Cinesite’s Andy Mcnamara agrees. “It’s very unlikely that digital experiences would undermine traditional art at any point in time, since uniqueness plays a huge role in its value. Fine art has provenance and history, while different creative forces are at play when the art is immersive or interactive, just like the differences between paintings, photography and sculpture – they all have their place.”

“We’ll continue to see both types of art coexist, complementing each other in different ways. Each serves a purpose, and both have value,” sums up Zaniz. “The key is understanding what each brings to the table and how they can enhance our experiences in different ways.” 

So while we may see more and more boats featuring digital artworks like Luminosity, they may live in harmony alongside more traditional artworks. It’s not time to put the Picasso into storage just yet.