TRANSLOCATIONS, curated by Displaced Data

TRANSLOCATIONS:
7 March - 19 April 1997.
14 March - 26 April 1997.

Curated by Displaced Data: Janice Cheddie, Keith Piper and Derek
Richards.

Recently we have seen much excitement generated about the limitless
possibilities of digital technologies in shifting the relationships
between art, technology and society. Technologies, which its
techno-celebrants claim, promise the emergence of new cultural forms
based on cultural exchange, reciprocity and fusions, while
simultaneously borrowing from a plurality of cultures. These utopian
assertions are made against the background of continuing social,
economic and cultural inequalities which frame the development of new
art using these technologies. Translocations seeks to examine the ways
in which artists of colour are engaging with digital technologies,
against the background of these utopian assertions and social realities
to explore concepts of movement, place and positioning of cultures.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is Permanent Revolution Part 2, a
collaboration between Keith Piper and Derek Richards. Taking the form of
a physical interactive environment of soundscapes and projected still
and moving images, this important new work explores the role that the
convergence of migrating peoples, exchange and fusion play in cultural
change.

Culture, death, sex and health are seen as opportunities for profit in
Roshini Kempadoo's installation Lapping it Up, which looks at the
commodification of social activity. The work consists of four large
scale digitally composed images constructed to form a series of shop
front elevations. Focusing on the position of Black people within this
exchange system, Kempadoo examines the dialectic of the commodification
of Black culture alongside the increasing economic displacement of Black
communities worldwide.

The third section of the exhibition is made up of a selection of digital
prints and computer based work curated by Janice Cheddie. It includes
Keith Piper's 'Caught Like A Nigger in Cyberspace' and Rosendale Odyssey
a virtual exhibition of multimedia work by primary school children on
the world wide web. New work by Reggie Woolery, Alex Rivera, Poulomi,
Kenseth Armstead, Art Jones, Shaheen Merali, Virtual Varrio, Surjit
Simplay, Allan de Souza, will also be shown.

A programme of events supporting the exhibition includes a one-day
conference on 13 April with keynote speakers Kodwo Eshun, (I.D.
magazine) and Ziauddin Sardar, (co-editor Of CyberFutures Pluto Press
1996) and a series of informal web based events including a debate
considering issues of access; and an event featuring the work of
Virtual Varrio, a web based artist's group in LA.

Rosendale Odyssey can be found on: www.artec.org.uk/rosendale. Rosendale
School can be e-mailed on: Kids @ Rosen100.demon.co.uk. For information
contact Fiona Bailey, Project Organiser on +44 171 831 1772. For
information and press prints please contact press on +44 171 831 1772.