Overlords at SALON NEU
From 28 January - 5 February, 2012
It’s hard to remember a world without the internet. In its current pernicious state of velocity combined with a fathomless audience, the internet has become a dizzying source of daily information. According to a recent survey, we now spend almost half our waking hours either online, on the phone, or watching television. The flow of information has continued unabated and transmission of images has accelerated to become a source of daily reality for most users of technology. Younger people have shown the biggest changes in how we use media. But the divide between younger and older people's use of technology is starting to narrow.
The definition of 'reality' is one of the big questions for our time. For artist Tom Estes fantasy and illusion are not contradictions of reality, but instead an integral part of our everyday lives. In his practice, Estes approaches the theme of 'reality' by engaging with the variety and fidelity of sensory information found on the internet. Estes strives, not to break down this introverted, often self-imposed hall of mirrors; instead his theatrical interpretation looks at how dataflow from the virtual realm impacts on the significance and symbolism of real-world human senses. At the core of Estes' work is an attention to the paradox of using intervention and history as meta-narrative devices. Estes originally conceived 'Overlords' as a video installation comprised of images of ‘Time Travel’ projected on to a book called ‘Local History and Antiquities’. The work was deliberately left incomplete. The display of the digital image- as the only reminder of the artist’s original intention- points backwards to interrogate the capacity of the viewer to recognize the gesture of 'inertia' as ironic. Because irony always implies a ‘double audience’ – there are those who accept the gesture at face value and those who realize the gesture is simulated intentionally.
So how much of reality is fictional and how does fiction express reality? Estes has begun to generate unexpected questions about how art might be able to inscribe itself on the surface of reality; Not to represent itself on the surface of reality, not to represent reality, nor to duplicate it- but to replace it. The work 'Overlords' recalls the little known ‘Conquest of Ubiquity’, by Paul Valery which makes prognostications that works of art are designed with their reproducibility in mind. It is therefore neither uniqueness, nor specificity, but the potential for ‘ubiquity’ that yields the value of work made for new media. By intentionally leaving the project unrealised, Estes’ closed circuit of illusion mimics and merges with the mass media desire for immediate novelty. In the work, Estes anticipates the online reduction of his installation to a single image. By creating an art-world-as-fiction, the work raises the question of whether this project should be understood as an online representation – using fictional space to comment on the ‘real’ world - or as intervention- actually reordering the real world.
Throughout human history the most powerful groups in society have used images to institutionalize their power and to shape social memory. Today's increasingly homogenized 'market' implies the inability of the consumer to acknowledge life experiences that are different from their own. An image today needs a compelling and persuasively clear message that the target audience can understand immediately. An act of 'Passive Resistance' can end up lost to viewers who conceive of others experiences as substantially analogous to their own. Screwing with reality then seems to be a logical next step in a world ridden by exploitation and exclusion. This may seen reactionary and counter productive, but in doing so Estes questions the position of art as a potentially critical gesture – and in turn creates a potential for criticism back onto the art world itself- an issue he has attempted to play out in a number of recent projects. But by disrupting the conventional barriers between artist, audience and art institution, Estes' act of subterfuge has begun to generate unexpected questions about the flickering, fading definition of 'reality' in the PR driven world we inhabit. The distinction between representation and intervention reveals the problem of presenting to an ‘art audience’, and comes back to the intriguing and troublesome question of what happens when ‘we’ see ourselves seeing something from the vantage point of a particular cultural position, such as that of contemporary art.
The global world of the 21st century is increasingly complex, hard-hearted and cynical. While there was a time when we thought of photographs as recorders of reality, we now know they help to shape and invent reality. E-mails, mobile phones, search engines and even navigation systems propel images towards us throughout our daily waking hours in a way that is both ‘real’ and utterly superficial. Prior to this plethora of images, the decision-making time span was attached to a photographs presentation or recording capacity. No longer are we dependent on secondary sources such as the photographic laboratory or other specific technologies for their retention, development or processing. Images are produced in one instant and disseminated within the next giving the illusion of a certain cultural freedom. And yet Lens-based technology is routinely subscribed to without a second thought to the point of being all-pervasive. At one stage or another, whether in shooting, developing, editing or placement, pictures are manipulated, which means that we are manipulated.
'Overlords' by Tom Estes recieved an Honorable Mention- as part of The Boston Online Biennial- and was shown during The Biennial Project's VIP Opening Reception for the opening week of the 54th Venice Biennale. Overlords was also part of The Agency of Unrealized Projects at the Kopfbau in Art Basel. The Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) was devised by Julieta Aranda, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julia Peyton-Jones and Anton Vidokle and was organized as a join effort between e-flux and The Serpentine Gallery.
Overlords at SALON NEU
From 28 January - 5 February, 2012
Embassy
10b Broughton Street Lane
Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 3LY
Link:
http://www.embassygallery.org/about/
Address:
Embassy
10b Broughton Street Lane
Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 3LY
Art Portal is part of Arts Electronic,a new artist-led inititive, that supports grass-roots contemporary art that remains unswayed by fashion, trends or the whims of government funding. The project involves ongoing research into the placing of contemporary art, it’s audiences and it’s relationship to the everyday and we place great emphasis on context. Our mission is to support new works of contemporary art and foster an audience from a wide range of backgrounds. Arts Electronic acts as a testing-ground for innovation with a strong emphasis on supporting new risk-taking ideas and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
I. MISSION
Arts Electronic aims to be a hub for new and up and coming international contemporary visual art; A forum where all can engage with contemporary ideas through a unique, risk taking, cross art-form and culturally diverse high quality programme of art.
In today’s climate the factors that determine which artists receive credit for their work and which works are carried forward, does merit inspection. Individuals with valuable insights might easily be overlooked or passed by in a world increasingly underwritten by market-driven forces. However, when individuals are marginalized, it can force them to embark on higher-risk courses of action, enabling beneficial innovation that would otherwise not have happened. The aim is to retrieve art that may have a different type of value from those dictated by market forces while stimulating questions about the history-making process of art.
At the same time we hope to develop a network-based creative community as a model of innovation in curating and practice. The objectives of the project is to introduce new audiences to the work of significant artists and to engage the work of artists as interacting generative agents, remediating one another as a vital part of contemporary social space.
Given the simultaneous emergence of conceptual art in several art centers around the world and the emergence of the new forms of interconnectivity via digital platforms we hope to encourage international collaboration and exchange with both artists and audiences.
This curatorial project presents a flexibility of approach to the curating of artistic works that make use of the contradictory relationship of the respective participants and characteristics.
II. VISION
Within the next 4 years to become a creative crossroads to build new partnerships and to be acknowledged by our audiences as being central to artistic, cultural and educational life. Playing a leading role on innovation and risk taking, to span the virtual and real worlds, achieving openness, access and excellence making a positive contribution to the regeneration to the arts.
III. VALUES
Arts Electronic values:
1. People
A. The work of artists and curators and audience.
2. The Work
A. Critical dialogue between artist, audiences, curators.
B. Innovation in the visual arts and wider cultural industries.
C. Original thinking and a contemporary outlook.
D. Internationalism and multiculturalism.
E. The Way We Do Business
F. Creative collaboration with individuals, institutions and funding partners.
G. Education as a tool for change and for increasing understanding of cultural, social, aesthetic and political issues.
H. Taking calculated risks in the pursuit of artistic excellence.
I. Fiscal responsibility.
IV. Business
The Mission, Vision and Values of the organisation have been translated into 7 aims which underpin the Business Plan. These are:
1. To be a leading international centre for contemporary visual arts engaging audiences, artists and curators in ideas, knowledge and dialogue.
2. Support innovation, creativity and the development of talent.
3. Make a leading contribution to local, national and international cultural and knowledge agendas.
4. To develop inclusive participation, learning and skills in visual arts and digital media.
5. To be a social, creative and business network hub.
6. To attract talented people and invest in them.
7. Achieve our objectives within a framework of a balanced budget and a well-run organisation.
IV. PROGRAMME STRATEGY
The core of the programme strategy is as follows:
•To conceive of projects as a loose series, with a methodological freedom in the curatorial-editorial approach, and which will remain inherent in all issues of the project, and will manifests itself in all the respective forms of presentation.
•Programming in an integrated way across the visual arts with engagement in the programme seen as central.
• Developing innovative partnerships to increase the quality of the programme and increase risk taking by sharing the risk more widely.
• Expanding the digital footprint of artselectronic to engage a wider audience.
•Increasing the impact of the work of artselectronic on the Knowledge Economy.
• Becoming more commercially focused and effective as state funding for work in the arts becomes squeezed.
• Adopting open working practices at the core of the new strategy and making this central to delivering an integrated, innovative and risk taking programme. (Open in this context means creating a way of working where there is a continuous and open dialogue between audience and artists about ideas and this dialogue helps to shape and redefine what artselectronic does.)
V. RESEARCH
Arts Electronic explores two specific lines of enquiry:
•International socio-political change
•Participation in artist practice
Arts Electronic is a cross art-form that engages with:
•Visual Arts – group and solo exhibitions of emerging, mid-career and established artists; thematic shows across all forms of contemporary visual art. Produce the majority of its exhibitions to tour, initiating original projects and commissioning a range of artists.
•Digital Media – this is a cross-cutting theme rather than a distinct programme. Areas include online artistic projects, interactive artist-led projects, user-generated content, participative projects and applications that enable creative innovation.
Creative Industries – A programme of formal and informal events and initiatives to support the creative sector and talent through information dissemination and networking.
Projects will range between small and middle scale with the aim of producing high profile projects utilising and interacting with each city and region. Work will be produced in a number of ways:
•Commissioned
•Toured
•Developed from artselectronic research programme
VI. Visual Arts
Our core programme 2012-13 continues the exploration of international socio-political change through the groundbreaking exhibition and tour, Crazy Like a Fox. Arts Electronic aims to develop further investigations, whilst socially engaged art and participatory projects are a strong focus.
We are currently developing ideas for inclusion in a Festival of Live Art Performance that provides the opportunity for an in-depth enquiry into issues around the economy with strong new commissions and partnerships.
In 2012-13 we also begin our Curator initiative, where international artists work strategically on our long term programme development with us.
VII. Engagement
Engagement is not a separate team or area but works across all of artselectronic participation in a current line of enquiry. Engaging new communities in projects with artists is a focus for our work. Engagement activities are not restricted to but might include tours, debates, digital content, workshops, interpretation, Q&As and seminars.
artselectronic is also developing a number of targeted projects including:
• Projector: young people (Youth Hostel inititive)
• Exposures: new talent in moving image
• Wire: creative industries
http://artselectronic.wordpress.com/
For further information go to our website http://artselectronic.weebly.com/
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contact Abel Magwitch: magwitch@live.com
Michelle Sujai