Inspired by ancient Greek philosopher Galen, video installation artist Marco Brambilla explores the human condition in his latest film, The Four Temperaments. Starring Academy-Award winner Cate Blanchett, Brambilla uses color to evoke the Four Humors: sanguine (yellow), choleric (red), melancholic (blue), and phlegmatic (green). In this beguiling quadriptych, the artist tests whether it is possible to create drama using two lines of dialogue spoken by the same actor.

Brambilla imagined this film as a virtual experience as much as a physical one. "I think art should engage people beyond gallery and museum walls," says Brambilla, whose work is also part of Unreal City—the biggest augmented reality exhibition to come to London. "With the dawn of virtual reality, we can bring our artwork to any setting, and its engagement can be more powerful than any conventional museum installation."

Unreal City is a production collaboration between Acute Art and Dazed Media in London. This new exhibition makes art more accessible through 36 virtual sculptures in site-specific locations along the Thames. Featuring work from Olafur Eliasson, Cao Fei, Bjarne Melgaard, and Nina Chanel Abney, among others, the exhibition is an uncanny experience that blurs the border between the imagined and the real.

Unreal City runs from December 8 – January 5, 2021. Find out more by downloading the Acute Art app.

Text by Sihaam Naik