When the extraordinary artist and man OUBEY was unexpectedly torn from life at a young age, a valuable treasure was left behind: his artistic work. The first approach of the MINDKISS project was to make this “hidden treasure” of his life’s work visible and to collect resonance on it.
The public interest in OUBEYs art grew, and so did the curiosity about him as a person and as a personality. For years I answered questions about him simply: “Look at his paintings. You’ll find everything that’s really important about him in his art.”
At the same time, deep inside me arose the desire to give others appropriate access to OUBEYs fascinating interdisciplinary world of knowledge and thought. Appropriate both in terms of the curiosity of the questioners and of OUBEY himself who can no longer answer their questions directly.
A classic biography was out of the question for me. Instead, I wanted to create a playful way of discovering and getting to know OUBEY in his many seemingly contradictory facets – as close and authentic as possible to his nature and his own desire to research and discover.
For years, I searched for a suitable concept. The experiments with virtual reality and AI technology in the MINDKISS project between 2019-2022 finally gave me an idea: to create an interactive experience space in which everyone can immerse themselves in OUBEYs world of thought in an entertaining and aesthetic way.
As OUBEY himself was a technical pioneer and had already created innovative computer art on the Amiga 500 in the 1980s with his PhotonPainting, I knew that he would like this approach – if only it could be implemented in a highly professional manner and meet his own high standards of what he himself described as “reference class”.
Fortunately, I found exactly the right partners at exactly the right time to realize this bold idea. When Ole Leifels and the Kubikfoto³ team agreed, the great adventure of working together creatively began. It was an intensive process of congenial design, filled with enthusiasm and the pure joy of doing.
The result is called OUBEY MINDSPACE and celebrated its premiere at the ZKM Karlsruhe on March 25, 2025. Since then, the project has already reached thousands and thousands of people worldwide via the social web. This enormous response fills me with joy – not only because of the impressive numbers but also because it has created a new, universal access to the world of OUBEY. A form of expression that does him justice in terms of both content and art and is already inspiring people of all ages.
This has always been OUBEY MINDKISS’ aspiration. For 15 years we came closer to it step by step. Now the OUBEY MINDSPACE represents a great leap forward in terms of public attention and interest – and yet it is also just the beginning. A significant part of OUBEYs work still lies hidden and is waiting to see the light of day and be discovered in the coming years.
My hope is that this growing public resonance will also generate media interest and partnerships with suitable institutions to bring OUBEYs art and the spirit that lies within it even further into the world. That would be wonderful, appropriate to the work – and certainly in keeping with its spirit.
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With many thanks to Kubikfoto³ for the congenius collaboration. The header is a screenshot of the OUBEY MINDSPACE: https://mindspace.oubey.com