David Van Eyssen

Encounter

Life-scale augmented reality sculpture

Encounter/Reflection ↓ · Related print series: Figures In Flight (and Falling) → · High-resolution prints →

LIFE SCALE VIRTUAL SCULPTURE

"I wanted to make a piece that would defy gravity, and have both mass and weightlessness. Real and imagined at the same time.”

Encounter is a life-scale virtual sculpture of the instant two cars collide, as their drivers are hurled from their seats, and become entangled mid-air. Surrounding these floating figures are shards of spinning glass, and a swarm of mirrored spheres that reflect the immediate environment. From one angle, the female figure, flung from her seat, appears to be locked in an embrace with the male figure. Seen at another angle, the man seems to be embracing himself. The faces are serene, with eyes closed — dreaming, or in a state of rapture.

Using augmented reality devices, visitors will discover 8.75m x 2.65m x 3.38m piece, designed to fit exactly within a gallery space, hovering above the ground. Outside, using the same devices, the rear section of one car can be seen protruding through the gallery window.

"I don’t consider it a violent image, but an expression of the moment of emotional encounter, or loss.”

Encounter | D. Van Eyssen
Encounter Freefall 2025 4K | Van Eyssen and Price

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

Orange wireframe of two embracing figures in a V shape, dense red lines on black, an Encounter scan study.
Catalogue cover for Encounter at MOCA London, 29 September to 26 October 2024: orange wireframe of a crashed car beside a title panel.
Catalogue page: a dark embracing pair and glass shards beneath the introduction to Encounter, the first AR exhibition at MOCA London.
Catalogue pages: a figure falling above two crashed cars shown in a 3D scene, with text about the scans and the Encounter prints.
Catalogue spread: an embracing pair falling past a large mirrored sphere in a room of books, alongside biographical text by Dr. Michael Petry.
Encounter AR view: embracing figures suspended among mirrored spheres and glass shards above a black crashed car in a book-lined room.
Catalogue page: two crashed cars facing each other on a black background, with the thrown figures shattered in glass above.
Catalogue spread with a QR code for the Encounter scale model, beside the AR scene of figures falling above a crashed car.
Catalogue spread: the Encounter AR scene of falling figures beside MOCA London's brick building with a black car crashing from the window.
Catalogue credits page for David Van Eyssen's Encounter at MOCA London, with instructions, thanks and work list, beside an orange wireframe image.
Encounter at MOCA London
Visitors point phones up at a built-in bookcase in the gallery to view the Encounter augmented-reality work.
Encounter AR view in the gallery: a visitor photographs herself reflected in a shard while a black car tire and wreckage fill the foreground.
Encounter AR view in the gallery: visitors with phones among mirrored black spheres, glass shards and the crumpled wreck.
Phone AR capture of Encounter: embracing figures above a viewer and chrome spheres reflecting the room, mirrored in the spheres.
Encounter AR view: a bearded visitor studies the crumpled black wreckage with a red-cased phone, mirrored spheres overhead.
Encounter AR view: a woman photographs the scene near the bookcase while a dog stands beside her; glass shards and spheres hang in the air.
Encounter AR view: a visitor photographs the wreck with a red phone, a car wheel and crumpled bodywork in the foreground.
Encounter AR capture: two visitors peer at the black wreck from beneath a curl of twisted metal, chrome spheres beside them.
A visitor in a pale trench coat photographs the Encounter wreck, figures suspended above her among glass spheres and shards.
A visitor's hands hold a phone toward the Encounter AR wreck, with other visitors visible in the gallery beyond.
Encounter AR view: visitors with phones among chrome spheres and glass shards above the crumpled black wreck.
Woman in a green check coat pushes against a black car that appears to crash out of MOCA London's window, an AR view of Encounter.

Encounter/Reflection

West Hollywood Art Fair, IHG Hotels, 2025. A version of Encounter with a mirror built into the installation.

Encounter/Reflection · Los Angeles, 2025
Encounter/Reflection · in the gallery, West Hollywood
The gallery in West Hollywood: the plinth, the tall mirror and visitors viewing Encounter/Reflection on their phones.
Full view of the room during the opening, with the plinth at the centre and visitors around it.
Encounter/Reflection in the West Hollywood space: wrecked cars, a suspended figure and glass shards beneath the ceiling ducts.
Visitors among Encounter/Reflection at the opening, seen through a phone.
Encounter/Reflection at night, the crash floating in the gallery among visitors.
An oval mirror in the gallery reflects the crash of Encounter/Reflection.