|
Sorry i've been a bit slow coming up with the last chapter of Estación experimental [Experimental Station]. Opened a few weeks ago at Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre, the exhibition looks at the way artists are inspired by scientific research. The Lost in Space section of the exhibition explores the outer space, that part of the universe that excites the imagination of scientists and artists alike. Because of its high percentage of science fiction, enigma and political undertones, that was the part of the show i liked the best.
Kiluanji Kia Henda's project Icarus13 documents with photos, a model and a text the preparation for the first ever expedition to the sun led by the Angola government. The photos of the space station buildings and astronomy center are pretty impressive:
Only bummer is that everything about the Angolan sun mission is fiction and irony. The technical experts we see getting the Icarus 13 machinery ready for take off are in fact construction workers in Luanda that the artist photographed during raids work. And most of the buildings that look so perfect for a space mission are in fact vestiges from Angola's colonial history: Icarus 13 is an unfinished mausoleum left by the Russians in Angola. "The Centre for Astronomy" is a cinema that decolonization left unfinished. The images showing the lights on the departure of the ship were taken during the celebrations of the trip Angolan Black Antelopes' to the World Cup 2006, etc. The name of the mission himself, Icarus 13, dooms any enterprise of the kind to failure: Icarus was after all that young man who, in Greek mythology, fell to his death while flying too close to the sun.
Maybe Jan Tichy's mysterious astronomic observatory is also planning an outer space trip. Installation No. 4 (Towers) is part video, part architecture where light and darkness very slowly move over the models as if they were submitted to the rotation of the planets. However no one knows whether the buildings really belong to an astronomic observatory, or what the source of the light is. In fact, i suspect their purpose is a dark and disquieting one. What are these towers controlling, communicating or monitoring? We watch the whole subtle and slow transition from light to darkness, punctuated by clouds with troubling shades but we are nowhere near understanding what what is at stake in the work. In his work, Tichy has often explored architecture and its political impact. This installation evokes a power that we see at work but have no means of stopping or influencing.
Lyn Hagan is the only artist in the show who physically engaged with space, more precisely with zero gravity. She took a cat and a mouse with her at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Moscow and filmed the way the animals experienced 10 parabolas of weightless (23 seconds each of zero gravity). The aim of the artist was to confirm whether the feline instinct remains in the absence of gravity. The slow motion film shows that the cat is too busy swinging around to pursue its prey. According to the catalogue (which you can download in PDF form), Hagan is currently working on the possibility of producing and filming a choreography that would be carried out by a robot on the surface of Mars.
Paloma Polo's The Path of Totality is a slide show of images of the bizarre eclipse observatories built from the mid-19th to the early 20th century in the USA, France, Germany and Italy, countries that invested in astrophysical research. The catalogue grew through the artist's exchange with experts in astrophysics, who guided her search through libraries and archives at observatories and astronomical institutes. The structures are precarious, erected in places strategically chosen for optimum observation of the phenomenon. Their only aim was to provide the best possible shelter for the instruments to study the astrophysical phenomenon. The resulting catalogued archive of specific structures reflects the race for political and economic power by the countries that were vying against each other to prove their progress - also in the field of scientific research. All of them had extensive colonial territories spread throughout the planet, although, curiously, Spain was left out because, like Portugal, it had already fallen behind. But Polo actually uses these images to lead us into the slippery subject of science instrumentalised by power, a recurring debate throughout history that repeatedly crops up in both art and science.
Estación experimental [Experimental Station] remains open through April 9, 2012 at Laboral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation in Gijón, Spain. Image on the homepage: Lyn Hagan, Cat in zero gravity, 2008. Previously: Experimental Station - Caleb Charland, Experimental Station - Part 1, In the Laboratory and Experimental Station - Part 2 (Fieldwork + Artefacts and Mechanisms). |
|
A quote from John Cage, 'art is sort of an experimental station in which one tries out living', gave its title to the exhibition that opened a few days ago at Laboral Art and Industrial Creation Centre in Gijón, Spain. Estación experimental [Experimental Station] (see the first part of my report over here) presents the work of artists who see in scientific research a path for artistic methodology and inspiration. Whether the relationship they have developed with science is akin to formal research, pataphysics, science-fiction or investigates paranormal events, these artists play with our expectations and question our current knowledge without necessarily looking for a definite answer. The works selected are often low-tech, they are made using plastic flowers, old school turntables, magnets, music boxes or butane gas cylinder. The way they function is sometimes even laid before the visitor's eyes. No mystery, no magic trick but poetry, irony and inquisitiveness. The exhibition is divided into 4 sections that sometimes intertwine and overlap. I've already explored the chapter about artists in the laboratory. Here's my notes on the artists who leave the lab to explore nature and on those who are looking for alternative uses of existing technology.
The Fieldwork section, dedicated to artists who get out of the labs to collect data or formulate theories that combine art, science and nature, contained two of my favourite works.
The first is Herbarium of Artificial Plants for which Alberto Baraya took the role of a botanical explorer and collected, catalogued and displayed artificial plants from some of the earth's most fertile places, starting with Colombia, his own native country and one of the world's most biodiverse countries. Made out of plastic or fabric, the samples are dissected and exhibited inside botanical slides that rigorously detail the false plant parts and their characteristics. Baraya's concern is representation, not ecological critique. "A lot of people need a relationship with nature, the good feeling of nature, but they sometimes get it through artificial plants. We need the representation of nature more than the reality" (via.)
4,000 years ago, a shower of meteorites crashed into Campo del Cielo, Argentina, a rare event that turned the area into natural research laboratory. Since 2006, Guillermo Faivovich and Nicolás Goldberg have been investigated the cultural impact of the Campo del Cielo meteorites. One of the meteorites, named El Taco, weighed 1998 kg. It is older than Earth itself, and comes from the Asteroid Belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Discovered in 1962 by a farmer, the meteorite was shipped to the Max Planck Institute in Germany and divided in two halves through a cutting procedure that took more than a year. Since then, one part has been located at Washington's Smithsonian Institution, the other one in Buenos Aires's Planetarium. In 2010, a Faivovich & Goldberg exhibition held at Portikus, Frankfurt, reunited the two main masses of El Taco, after almost forty-five years of being apart. The artists have now embarked on a research for a second specimen that seems to have mysteriously vanished into thin air. The Mesón de Fierro was a meteorite venerated by the area's original inhabitants since it crashed there thousands of years ago. It was last recorded in 1783 by lieutenant commander Miguel Rubín de Celis, who led one of the first scientific expeditions in South America. Despite its weight of 15 to 20 tonnes, the Meson del Fierro is now lost, no one has the slightest idea on its whereabouts.
The artists in the Artefacts and Mechanisms section are mostly interested in subverting existing technology. Interestingly, most of them were sound artefacts and their cohabitation in the same space leads to a surprisingly pleasing 'soundscape.' O Grivo's turntables proved to be the perfect companions for the tired and delicate sound of Alberto Tadiello's Eprom. I'll never get tired of seeing this installation (or any other of Tadiello's work), strangely enough, i have the feeling i might have blogged this one a thousand times but can't find the post anywhere.
O Grivo build musical instruments using waste or cheap materials. From old turntables to bits of cables or wood. Activated by mechanical and electrical systems, the instruments might look like accidental contraptions but pay closer attention and you will realize that their sound is as delightful as their visual appearance.
Julio Adán's Ecografía (no tocar, por favor) had a whole room to itself. Adán uses musical instruments for drawing using magnetic dust. The result is unpredictable and often fairly loud. The motors and sensors are activated by the presence of visitors.
Guillem Bayo gives life to banal objects in his Misfits Series. The emergency fire hose got out of its box and snakes around the room but the fire extinguisher hasn't quite found a way to escape and repeatedly knocks on the door to be able to exit. The idea is simple and perhaps not particularly original but its realization was charming and the artist somehow managed to give a 'soul' and a real intent to the rebellious objects. Estación experimental [Experimental Station] remains open through April 9, 2012 at Laboral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation in Gijón, Spain. |
|
Estación experimental [Experimental Station], an exhibition that just opened at Laboral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation, presents the work of artists who are inspired by scientific research. Whether the relationship they have developed with science is akin to formal research, pataphysics, science-fiction or investigates paranormal events, these artists play with our expectations and question our current knowledge without necessarily looking for a clear answer. What matters in their work is not the end result, but the process, the experiment, the long journey of trial and error.
The exhibition is at time playful and amusing and at time leading to more contemplative moments. I was particularly glad that Estación experimental gave me the opportunity to discover so many young Spanish artists. I hope i'll get to see more of their work in the coming years. The first chapter of the exhibition gives a general overview of the concept behind the show. In the Laboratory brings together the artists who use their studio or an exhibition space as a place for experimentation. I've already mentioned Caleb Charland and the homemade experiments he photographs in his garage.
Another artist who makes jaw-dropping experiments with physical phenomena is Alistair McClymont who recreated a tornado inside one of the exhibition rooms. The mechanics that activate the rotating column of air are not hidden from visitor's view: fans, scaffolding, black tubes and a humidifier. The sculpture uses mundane materials to recreate a rare meteorological phenomenon that can have devastating effects. In the gallery however, visitors are free to step into the whirlwind of air and vapor and experience its physical presence without any danger.
Danger, or rather the perception of it, is at the core of Ben Woodeson's work. The sculpture he's showing in Laboral bears the tongue-in-cheek name Health & Safety Violation #15 - Spiral twist hazard. I'm all for poking fun at the over-regulations that dominate cultural spaces (especially in England, a country never afraid of reaching new heights of ridicule in that matter.) Spiral Twist Hazard is a black cable that hangs from the ceiling and twists, untwists, whips and moves as if it had a life of its own. Because the title warns you of the cable 'purpose', the threat becomes appealing, it puts visitor to the test: will you dare go nearer or will you retreat safely? Spiral Twist Hazard is one of the exercises in a long series of "Health and Safety Violations" that the artist began in 2009. I'm quite fond of the aggressive shoe brush (video might take a few moments to load but well worth the wait), the pump that suffocates you by vacuuming air away from the gallery space, the beads thrown on the floor, etc. I like them all. I should interview him one day. Right?
Artist Rubén Ramos Balsa worked at the service of engineer Oumar Haidara Fall to help him communicate his physics theory. The video and mock-up on show illustrate in a tangible way the Senegalese scientist's work on the mechanical disruption of symmetry. I'm not sure i understood the theory quite clearly but from what i managed to gather, the research questions the laws of gravity inherited from Newton and tests the possibility of increasing mass in the same trajectory. The project page explains that The work carried out jointly by the engineer and the artist explores and tests the validity of the Autonomous Mechanical Multiplier as a principle that can prove the theory of the evolutionary conservation of the unity of multiple dimensions. I'll come back later on this week with more posts about the exhibition but don't wait for me to check out the catalogue of the show, it's available as a PDF on Laboral's website. And here's a few pitiful photos i made while visiting the show. Estación experimental [Experimental Station] remains open through April 9, 2012 at Laboral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation in Gijón, Spain. |
|
LABoral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation is opening today the exhibition Experimental Station which explores how art and impossible science draw together and intertwine. The show is remarkably interesting and refreshing even for someone like me whose job is to see art&science exhibitions, read (or even write) art&science books and discuss with the art&science crowd on a daily basis. It's very garage science with artists i had never heard about before and others whose work i had only encountered in art fairs and small galleries so far. Proper report will follow shortly --it will be enthusiastic to say the least-- but before i head back to Laboral for the opening performance by O Grivo, here's just a few words about one of the works i discovered in the exhibition.
In his b&w series Demonstrations, Caleb Charland used everyday objects or materials he found in surplus and salvage yards to explore the laws and wonders of physics. The stupefying images are the only traces left of the many exposures, the long trials and errors the artist had to go through before he managed to make the perfect portrait of a physical phenomenon. The admiration for his tenacity and curiosity increases tenfold when you remember that we live in the age of photoshop.
Raise your hand who'd like to try this at home now! Estación experimental [Experimental Station], a coproduction between Laboral Centre of Art and Industrial Creation and CA2M Art Centre Dos de Mayo, remains open until 9 April 2012 at Laboral in Gijón, Spain. |
|
Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain, is going to celebrate its 4th birthday this week. Since its opening, the art center has exhibited over 850 artworks, 108 of which were created by artists from the Asturian region. Quite an achievement for such a young institution. Over the years, Laboral had also become a trusted harbour for new media art works. The space's audacious programme gave artists working with new technologies the opportunity to exhibit their pieces in the best possible conditions and over a period of time that extends way beyond the one allocated by new media art festivals.
This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I don't know how long Laboral's new love story with video art will last but judging from the delight of the crowd that came to the opening last week, the Laboral exhibition team is clearly onto something. I can't remember seeing visitors so charmed and fascinated by an exhibition. As much as it pains me to see that another door might be closing for new media art, i must admit that i completely share their enthusiasm for the show. Noches Electricas, featuring mostly videos, is one the most breath-taking and audacious i've seen so far in Gijón.
The title of the new exhibition, Electric Nights, is directly inspired by Les nuits électriques, a short film directed by Eugene Deslaw in 1928, in which city lights at night-time around European cities are presented like a fireworks show. The similarity between fireworks and movies is at the very heart of this exhibition. Both are intermittent ephemeral projection of light in the darkness. Fireworks are yesterday's action movies. They used to last 90 minutes and their complex, narrative structures, often told a story of war and chaos upon which the hero would prevail.
The works selected come from the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou. They include classic photographs, engravings, installations, contemporary videos as well as early experimental and scientific films. Presented in open plan and conceived both as a parcours and as entertainment, like a classical exhibition, the show follows the principle of fireworks, alternating installations with projections. The moving images are presented on screens in different sizes and formats hanging at varying heights in the space.
Electric Nights attempts to recreate the magic of fireworks and movies through a use of the exhibition space that transcends the usual 'white box' set. In the main room, screens of various sizes are hung on the ceiling, inviting visitors to zigzag through the show but also to keep their head up as if they were attending a firework show. There is very little use of sound, everything is image, mind-blowing image.
Claude Closky's Brrraoumm video illustrates perfectly the spirit of the show. The artist has edited excerpts from films at the moment of the explosion -an obligatory scene of the big budget action movie- and presented them in loop. Each explosion leads silently to another one. Each conflagration annihilating any effect the other might have had.
Anthony McCall strips down the movie experience to the shaft of light from a projector that slices through the dark in a theater hall during screening. White beams of light are coming from the ceiling. Cutting through smoke, they are slowly - so slowly you might not even realize anything is happening - tracing shapes on the floor. The cones of light appear almost solid and tangible. Most visitors seemed to think twice before daring to get their body through the beam.
Curators Philippe-Alain Michaud and Benjamin Weil explained at the press conference that they had conceived the show as an explosion of images that needs little introduction. In fact, the only texts that the captions on the walls contain is the title of the artworks, the name of the artist, the media used and the date. Nothing else. I feel like i've already spoken too much so the rest of this post is going to follow Michaud's stripped-down tactic:
Also part of the exhibition: The Way Things Go. PDF of the exhibition guide. Electric Nights - Art and Pyrotechnic, an exhibition conceived by Centre national d'art et de Culture Georges Pompidou and coproduced by LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, is open at Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain, until September 12, 2011. |
|
Last week, i was at Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón for the opening of Electric Nights - Art and Pyrotechnic, an exhibition slash fireworks showcasing works from the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou. My report is still in its draft stage but i thought i'd share with you the video that got visitors glued in front of a screen on the night of the opening.
Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go) is a 1987 film by Peter Fischli and David Weiss following a 30 minute long, uninterrupted chain of physical and chemical experiments. One explosion leads to a fire that heats up a teakettle until its steam whistle flies away and hits a bottle that falls and pour its content over a... It goes on and on. One chemical trigger leads to another or sparks a physical phenomenon. The film watches like a thriller (even if you've seen it twice already), every single step can go wrong. I couldn't embed the full series from youtube so head over here to see the full film: part 1, part 2 and part 3. The assembly of everyday objects is set in a warehouse, like a long Rube Goldberg machine.
Honda actually ran into a bit of trouble with a commercial that looked way too much like a polished version of The Way Things Go. Electric Nights - Art and Pyrotechnic is open at Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial in Gijón, Spain, until September 12, 2011. |
