The eye-catching images posted on an Instagram account dubbed Utopic Arabia strike the imagination and can even confuse a viewer: the fun looking buildings and sculptures (inflatable, balloon-like structures) in the pictures may seem way too real. The creators of these CGI pieces are Victor Nouman and Eugenio Fernandez, digital artists and architects who work between Dubai and Madrid and own Dunes Studio, a design and architecture studio.
The artists are mostly inspired by Middle Eastern culture, traditions, and architecture, and this fascination of theirs is what they show in their artworks. The Utopic Arabia project was born when the artists were in a café in Dubai. “[We made] some sketches of inflatable shapes in a traditional village in the middle of nowhere and we saw a lot of potential in this idea,” the artistic duo explains.
Nouman and Fernandez pictures portray “lost villages in the middle of the desert, small traditional markets, or tea houses” mixed with retro-futuristic elements. The duo is more interested in remote destinations because of the potential for them to be reimagined.
Utopic Arabia’s pastel coloured pictures are created employing several techniques. The artists use photographs they have taken around the Middle East. After identifying iconic features, they make sketches and then create a unique 3D effect: hyper-realistic renders which fit seamlessly into a desert landscape.
Answering the question about their puffed-up designs, Nouman and Fernandez say that inflatable architecture is ironic. “We […] like […] this idea of transforming something that is supposed to be very serious into something joyful and playful.” They also note that they would like to explore how their digital concepts can be transformed into physical installations or architectural projects.
The artists consider the freedom to imagine other realities to be the main idea they reflect in their work. “Even though all the concepts are based on existing buildings or assets, we like to think that other alternatives are possible,” they explain. If they manage to successfully bring their outstanding inflatable designs to life, we will have an exciting opportunity to physically step into one of these alternative realities.
However, a place which offers one to immerse themselves in the other world (a digital one) already exists. To get such experience, you should head for Aya, a HyperSpace in WAFI City mall.
