Return to CODAmagazine

Augmented reality, classic art forms, and data sets are all tools visionary Shuli Sadé uses to focus on nature’s splendor. The brilliance of Sadé’s vision is when “augmented and reality perform together on one stage.” The enhancements which occur in this process are moving and inspiring, providing new contexts for understanding the dimensions we live in. Her background in photography also informs the perspectives she has regarding these advances in the visual arts. With a studio located in New Jersey, she is an accomplished lecturer in the New York arts scene Sadé has taught at Barnard College, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Columbia University, Parsons School of Design, and the University of Pennsylvania.

My Projects

  • Aqua Data

    Manipulated photographs, Film interlayers, 3/4 Inch Custom Laminated Annealed Glass, LED light 12' x 33 Foot. In creating artwork for the West Wing Lobby at the newly designed Gensler building for Partners HealthCare in Somerville (MA), Sadé Studio's goal was to negotiate between art, architecture, landscape, urbanism and a sense of belonging between the community and the surroundings. Images of Historic and existing hospitals unveil Partners achievements and service to the Boston community. The close proximity to Mystic River waterfront adds an important component to the colossal art piece: Water. Dynamic and meditative, the River serves as a transformative unifier, merging together all interlayers while linking space and time, history, and renewal. A multi-layered Aqua Data contains multiplicational patterns of local urbanism including master plans of Mystic River zoning plans, Boston, Berkshire, Plymouth and Cambridge zoning plans. Urban plans are often transformed to codes Sadé creates to identify memory through instructional urban systems. Repetitive geometric patterns juxtaposed onto formless water debating form and solidity.

  • Bird's-Eye View

    Bird's-Eye View is an innovative Augmented Reality installation specifically created for the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) waterfront. The installation celebrates the stunning coastline of Manhattan and the wonder of migration patterns, showcasing digitally-created birds alongside breathtaking views of Battery Park from above. Artist Sadé utilized her expertise in technology and carefully studied BPCA's commitment to environmental sustainability to create a temporary installation that bridges the potential of technology and brings viewers closer to nature in a new and exciting way. Inspired by the global wandering of both humans and nature, Bird's-Eye View (2022) explores the migratory birds that call Battery Park City's gardens and parks home. Through cutting-edge AR technology, the site reveals over 30 species of birds that find temporary or permanent oases along the southwest coastline of Manhattan. This installation is designed to be easily accessed by individuals at a dozen activation locations along the Hudson River, simply by using the Adobe Aero app on their smartphones.

    2023 CODAawards Entry

  • Evolving Formations

    Evolving formations, an interdisciplinary study of simple complexity systems is a data-driven matrix fusing actual site-specific zoning plan arrangements and fictional landscapes. Drawn from Cambridge's local iconic architecture and site plans the DNA of an urban plan defines its form, function, and future. Enlarged Nanoparticles replace micro pixels singled out from the photographs to create complex networks outlining a mathematical rhythm. These composed patterns floating in and around the artwork are represented by an interdisciplinary approach, combining two-dimensional artwork with augmented objects. Admitting augmented reality onto the space near the actual prints suggests parallel worlds in which it becomes possible to go beyond the limits of real space and time, moving between material and immaterial, flat and sculptural. This interrelation creates a perfect simulacrum as fragmented data replaces reality with its representation. Inspired by MIT educational platforms of pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibilities the artwork considers the design of the place, the material and color of the interior and exteriors, the facade, and a delicate harmony between concrete, wood, terrazzo, and glass. The artwork is inspired by iconic buildings on the MIT site.

    2022 CODAawards Entry 2022 CODAawards Top 100 Badge 2023 CODAawards Entry

  • Pulse

    68' x  9' Manipulated Data, Archival Inks printed on Vibrachrome, and an Augmented Reality installation Pulse is a captivating art installation that seamlessly blends scientific research, molecular diagrams, and the colors of nature during seasonal transitions. The artwork strives to achieve a balance between motion and tranquility, artfully manifested in diagrams that reflect the velocity of heartbeats. These diagrams, which represent the number of heartbeats per minute, are woven into six different artworks that offer unique experiences based on the rhythm of the viewer's walk. Pulse aims to approach transcendence while providing a temporary respite for the busy minds of BIDMC visitors and staff. The installation is a true feast for the senses, with Augmented Reality (AR) technology used to enhance the experience even further. By activating QR codes installed on both sides of the SkyBridge, viewers can unlock augmented objects that reflect tissue specimens from actual labs.

    2023 CODAawards Entry 2023 CODAawards Top 100

  • Reconfiguring Memory

    Reconfiguring Memory is a permanent art installation, the result of a two-year collaboration between artist Shuli Sadé and Dr. André Fenton, Professor at the Center for Neural Science at Neurobiology of Cognition Laboratory at NYU. Sadé’s site specific work includes Encode/Decode, a conference table made of Glass, Stainless Steel and a Photograph. Traces: photographs on film bracket the laboratory conference room. Remapping: three looped single channel video pieces using recorded brain movements. An international group of Neural Scientists use the laboratory, where the conference table is the hub for exchange of new ideas. How can art serve science? Was the first question Dr. Fenton and Shuli Sadé contemplated on, during this successful collaboration. The site-specific art installation was created during the renovations of the New York University Neurobiology of Cognition Laboratory. This research laboratory in the Center for Neural Science features an art project by internationally recognized artist Shuli Sadé, one component of which, Encode /Decode doubles as the facility’s conference table.

  • Upstream Downstream, Logograms

    Upstream Downstream augmented reality project was developed during the lockdown to take part in Re: Growth, a site-specific public art exhibition along the Hudson River, celebrating the emerge from the pandemic. Drawing inspiration from the unique properties of the Hudson River, I create artwork that aims to emphasize the temporariness of time and of the ever-flowing water by making virtual ethereal objects which are simultaneously visible and invisible. I create oblate-shaped augmented logograms reflecting ecological, topographic, and technological wisdom metaphorically carried by the River. A matrix of memory, the river is a flowing conduit between space and time. https://www.shulisade.com/news

    2021 CODAawards Entry CODAmagazine

  • Urban Renewal

    Urban Renewal draws inspiration from the dynamic and ever-changing architecture of the city. This collection of work involves the creative reuse of land for new purposes, rehabilitation of deteriorated buildings, and conservation techniques aimed at preserving the function and quality of an area. In many ways, Urban Renewal bears similarities to the healing process. Just as our bodies and spirits undergo a process of renewal to regain well-being, the urban landscape can also be restored and recharged to a state of vitality and productivity. Through my work, I aim to highlight the interconnectedness between our environment and our physical and emotional well-being. By rejuvenating the urban landscape, we can create a more harmonious and sustainable future for ourselves and future generations.

    2023 CODAawards Entry 2023 CODAawards Top 100

  • Watermarks

    Watermarks is a site-specific artwork spanning 12 feet by 38 feet laminated glass crafted from manipulated photographic data, installed in the lobby of Huntsville City Hall. The mural seamlessly blends elements of nature and urban landscapes, featuring iconic Huntsville buildings against a vibrant, backlit surface. Inspired by Huntsville's rich history and natural surroundings, Watermarks captures the essence of the city. The colorful artwork specifically draws from the beauty of Monte Sano trails, Big Spring, and Indian Creek. Big Spring, historically significant as Huntsville's founding water source in 1805, remains a central feature in Big Spring Park, where the new city hall stands. Indian Creek, meandering through the park and connecting the spring to the Tennessee River, underscores the city's aquatic heritage. Watermarks symbolize the enduring influence of water in Huntsville's cityscape, celebrating these natural and historic elements through its captivating design and scale.

  • Wild, Heterotopias

    Wild, Heterotopias Augmented Reality installations reflect thriving garden and newly built architecture around the HighLine. These augmented orbs transform our experience of space and time, juxstapose nature against bare walls and sky, based on Sadé's photographed of the High Line gardens (designed by Piet Oudolf). They create a mirroring world, a journey between imagination and reality on separated levels. Sade’s work speaks to land, nature and metropolis through 3D photographic sculptures.

Return to CODAmagazine

© 2020 CODAworx    All Rights Reserved