Ancestors ‘I have always collected in one form or another including childhood stamps, keyrings, Whimsies, vinyl records and art books. However, my most recent collection is my ancestors, gathering, so far, 7,517. Alongside 30,342 records and 1,806 photos that also reveal places, families and past occupations that I had no idea about. This began as a distraction (now more like an obsession) during lockdown March 2020 when I began building a family tree online. Since then discoveries include; A Great x 2 Grandfather in N.S.W. Australia previously lost to family for 3 generations; Black Country nail makers, from which the World Champion Stand Spring Jumper emerged; stone masons; monumental stone rubbers, grooms and coachmen; a Victorian magician; ship builders; agricultural labourers, an architect; a shoe manufacturer and finally a quirky link to the Bloomsbury Group.’
Honoured to be included in this great line-up of audio artists BBC3 Late Junction – ‘Subterranean Sounds’ show which aired last night. Many thanks to Verity Sharp, presenter for including my humble audio track from 2010 video ‘Mapping London’s Subterranean Rivers’. It’s very near the end of the show at 1:51:40 but the whole show is definitely worth a good listen.
Kindly invited by curator by Teresa Retzer of ZKM| Zentrum fur Kunst and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany: Video perpetual browse_r_2 (2019) included Computable-Incomputable Digitale Kunstalle at ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, German public-service television broadcaster) virtual walkthrough exhibition Oct 2020 – Oct 2021. The online visitor may discover artworks by moving around a 3d virtual environment and by clicking on ‘cellular automata’:
Is the universe, a conglomerate of cellula automata? And if so, is the human subject completely computable? This exhibition, featuring born-digital artworks largely from the ZKM collection (Zentrum fur Kunst and Media, Karlsruhe), offers insight into artistic and scientific responses to these questions, and shows how computers help visualize alternative worlds that can become new realities.
Is the universe a big computer? The question is not new: Konrad Zuse, pioneering computer scientist, described the universe as a large cellular automaton back in 1969. In his opinion it is imaginable as a discrete computational system composed as cells that evolve following pre-set rules by considering the states of other cells in their locality. Cellular automata can compute functions and solve algorithmic problems. Zuse called his hypothesis “calculating space” (Rechnender Raum), and it can model the universe as a combination of many small computers (in this case equivalent to automata) that adds up to one large computer.
This exhibition reflects the idea of calculating space, but also Seth Lloyds “programmed universe” which proposes that the universe is one huge quantum computer. With the development of computation and graphical user interfaces, it turns out not only that reality can be described as a computational system, but that sets of computing “executables” can generate new virtual realities, This capability of computers has fascinated artists, who have been exploring generative aesthetics for half a century to date.
While the computability of environments now seems clear, the question of whether the self can be computed hasn’t been answered in the affirmative, althought the promise of artificial intelligence already threatens to reproduce the thinking subject. Despite the fact that current computers are unable to simulate human thought, and so the self as yet remains incomputable, this recognition has functioned as a powerful stimulant for speculative fiction.
The collection at ZKM| Karslruhe (Zentrum fur Kunst and Medien/ Center for Art and Media), focuses on media art: an artform defined by the medium with which it is created, distributed, and received. The apparatuses created by computer-related by computer-related disciplines emerging throughout the second half of the twentieth century – such as automata studies, cybernetics, information and communication technologies, and artificial intelligence – have gradually expanded the definition of media, and made the computer one of the most important tools and media for visual arts.
Computable – Incomputable showcases software-based digital artworks in a computer-generated environment. A digital copy of an atrium at ZKM| Karlsruhe is populated by multiple cellular automata, generated completely algorithmically. The exhibition support structure, just like the artworks it displays, reflects upon its apparatus and medium: the computer.
Events: Artist Talks on Zoom every Sunday 18 Oct, 25 Oct, 1 Nov and 8 Nov from 8PM (Details to be announced on website soon).
The London Group is the UK’s longest running and most prestigious artists’ collective. It was formed in 1913 by thirty-two artists from the Camden Town Group, the English Vorticists and a number of independent artists which included Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. For the first time women artists were involved in the development of the Group from the outset. Its aim was to create an independent artist-led exhibiting body in opposition to the Establishment, aka the Royal Academy. The Group, which has survived two world wars and a pandemic, has been an integral force in nurturing and supporting diverse and emerging artistic talent throughout the UK.
Exhibitors: Moich Abrahams, Ade Adesina, Wendy Anderson, Victoria Arney, Victoria Bartlett, Bryan Benge, Slawomir Blatton, Paul Bonomini, Clive Burton, Stephen Carley, Peter Clossick, Tim Craven, Sandra Crisp, John Crossley, Philip Crozier, Jeff Dellow, Beverley Duckworth, Mark Dunford, Angela Eames, James Faure Walker, Eric Fong, Marenka Gabeler, Genetic Moo, Tricia Gillman, Susan Haire, Alexandra Harley, Julie Held, Aude Hérail Jäger, Martin Heron, Alexander Hinks, Chris Horner, Gillian Ingham, Annie Johns, Judith Jones, Matthew Kolakowski, Jockel Liess, Pauline Little, Amanda Loomes, Jeff Lowe, Bethany Marett, C. Morey de Morand, Kathleen Mullaniff, Darren Nisbett, Eugene Palmer, Ian Parker, Janet Patterson, Sumi Perera, Michael Phillipson, Chris Poulton, Alex Ramsay, Maya Ramsay, Victoria Rance, David Redfern, Tommy Seaward, David Shutt, Philippa Stjernsward, Suzan Swale, David Tebbs, Paul Tecklenberg, David Theobald, Philippa Tunstill, Bill Watson, Neil Weerdmeester, Anthony Whishaw RA, Susan Wilson, Erika Winstone, David Wiseman, Carol Wyss.
For The London Group online exhibition “Wish You/We were Here/There” I contributed a video still cropped to postcard format 1748 x 1240 pixels. This is the actual video 1920 x 1080 pixels, duration 00:01:06
“Wish You/We were Here/There” invited submissions of postcard sized art based on where artists see themselves now that the lockdown is easing, where they have been or want to go.
A virtual and imaginary space to be in current times changed by the pandemic
“Wish You/We were Here/There” invited submissions of postcard sized art based on where artists see themselves now that the lockdown is easing, where they have been or want to go.
Take a journey through 12 walls of work from 39 members of The London Group.
See works all contemplative of the current climate we live in, through the medium of video stills, sound recordings, sculptures, found objects, photos, prints, drawings, paintings & poetry.
-explore ideas of shifting borders -take urban & rural walks -sense nostalgia, yearning & loss -follow protest marches & demonstrations -visit the landscapes (both internal & external, physical & mental) Click on each work to read its backstory…
This is Phase I of a 3 part exhibition, that will tour as an offline exhibition & form a limited edition of collective works. Galleries & Artist Collectives (National & International) interested in hosting an exchange touring exhibition, please contact The London Group enquiries@thelondongroup.com
Very pleased that Eirini Olympiou (ADAF, Athens, Greece) has selected my video perpetual browse_r 2for Over The Real videoarte festival, Lucca, Italy
The Fifth Edition of Over The Real – International Videoart Festival will be held in Lucca from 30 September to 4 October 2020. Also this year the event, in partnership with the Lucca Film Festival Europa Cinema, will present the most significant lines of research that have emerged in the last years in the international panorama of the audiovisual arts and intermediary performances
Within the piece which also contains several images and embedded video I reflect upon my practise regarding digital process and integral concepts such as data tracking, and contemporary media saturation – All revised for the changed World of Covid-19 HERE
TRANSMISSIONS is currently an online project and collected writings will eventually be published as a book next year 2021.
About us
invert/extant is a small publisher based in the UK that seeks to shift perspectives on new writing and art.
We are looking for writers adept at changing how we see and understand the world as well as readers who are up for this challenge.
‘Bataille shed happy tears for a cousin he does not know, whom he thought dead on a ship sinking, only to discover he still lives, to be here yet not, in that moment when what we know collapses yet we are still here.’ Puzzled by his reaction with this shifting of perspective—and linking it to the allure of art in general, he observes impossible and yet there it is.
This shift is at the center of what we do. invert/extant fosters this unanticipated capacity to take our breath away, to catch us unawares, revealing the world inverted through its subtlety, truth, or inventiveness.
Thanks to Nicola Schauerman LG for inviting me to inhabit THE GALLERY in these strange times with my ‘Fuzzy Phone .GIF‘. This work is part of an animated .GIF series created in 2016 but has not been uploaded for online viewing before now.
This is an online gallery for London Group members. It will present 3 to 4 shows per year which are curated and launched through our Newsletter. Members will be invited to take over this space to create a unique art work of words / images / video / sounds and anything else that can exist online.
Fragments of borrowed online visuals are layered together and explore the limits of motion, transparency, compression, and pattern dithering. A large fuzzy mobile phone, odd metal tree-sculpture photographed in the city and other disconnected fragments are animated across an 8-frame timeline.
Included are two recentperpetual browse_r videos, 3d renders from DATA_SCAPE series and new zoom images – The zooms explore the compromise and image compression that happens when uploading work online when often important detail is lost in the process.
AOS is a platform dedicated to artist videos, multimedia experiences and curatorial interventions utilising digital formats. AOS invites web-based artists, digital artists and curators from around the world to experiment with new forms of creating, curating and presenting art online.
HERVISIONS is a femme-focused curatorial agency facilitating online and offline experiences and collaborations with partners to research and produce innovative commissions, exhibitions and events working across new and emergent technologies and platforms with a strong focus on the intersection of art, technology and culture.
Zoom detail image of 3d render. In this zoom image,tiny emoticons can be seen texture- mapped into the surface of the 3d structure that are only usually seen in the full resolution image when viewed offline. I’ve made the images as high resolution as possible for THE ART OF NO LIKES so they can be expanded when viewing on any device. Do check out the project for more images and further writing about the work. —–>
GENTIC MOO are getting through Covid – 19 lockdown by creating weekly live You Tube broadcasts – MICROWORLD @ HOME, which incorporate a multi-camera setup, live improvisation and coding to evolve fascinating multi-layered digital ecosystems seeded from their blacked-out living room in Margate, England, UK.
Beginning with the first streaming 2 hour broadcast 2 May 2020, this week’s broadcast 13 June 2020 LIFE AND DEATH ON THE SUGARSCAPE was inspired by a chapter from Joshua M. Epstein & Robert Axtell’s book Growing Artificial Societies.
Each week artists are invited to add out-take clips into the mix so I’m delighted that a few of my own appeared during this week’s broadcast and also upcoming Saturday 20 June 2020 entitled THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL . TUNE IN EVERY SATURDAY AFTERNOON 2PM – 4PM GMT HERE
Continuing adventures in digital ecosystems live from Margate. This week we explore life and death on the sugarscape, including creative coding chaos on the grid, collaborative mashups and Genetic Moo’s ever-expanding virtual menagerie. Every Sat 2-4pm. Participating artists: Sean Clark, Julia Schauerman, Simon Rae, Ed Kelly, Sandra Crisp, Jonathan Armour
The project will include PERPETUAL BROWSE_R and PERPETUAL BROWSE_R_2 videos plus a selection of images from recent DATASCAPE series, and some new zoom images that show hidden detail not usually visible when work is viewed on a phone or monitor screen.The work will be exhibited AOS/ Hervisions area of Artbyte gallery website and is in-progress right now, I will post the launch date on the NEWS section of this website so do check back soon!
About AOS
AOS is a platform dedicated to artist videos, multimedia experiences and curatorial interventions utilising digital formats. AOS invites web-based artists, digital artists and curators from around the world to experiment with new forms of creating, curating and presenting art online.
The artists and curators of AOS present past projects, work-in-progress and new work; often addressing current trends and theoretical discussion in art, the work on AOS also branches into political, economic and social topics as a way of mapping a collective territory.’ Direction: Rebecca Edwards, Nimrod Vardi
‘The Art Of No Likes is an ongoing critical investigation into systems of curating and a reflection on the implications of standardisations within social media infrastructures that harvest, manifest and intertwine the production of exhibitions in time-based media. The project shines a critical gaze on the gatekeepers of these infrastructures and associated “economies of like” and related systems of value judgments inherent to capitalist social media platforms. Moving through industries and across interdisciplinary practices the The Art of No Likes offers up an analysis of the “economy of like” across communication formats, experience and environment.
During this online residency at Arebyte, HERVISIONS will present a shape shifting “in conversation” dialogue of shared narratives with artists and cultural practitioners in response to the provocation of The Art of No Likes. The results will be “exhibited” at Arebyte Gallery IRL next year 2021.
The top down, confined terms of engagement and rigid architecture of social networks stunts our communication ecologies. What falls through the cracks? As curators how can we open focus on the remediation and semantics of digital performance and the complexity of emerging cultural shifts, digital archeology, interdisciplinary practice and materiality of the protocol and standardisation of the “economy of likes” residing within the logic of digital audiences.
Conceived by curators Rachel Falconer and Zaiba Jabbar with assistance from Rebecca Edwards with an aim to bring discussions of fluid and unpredictable relationships. Over the coming 3 months expect newly commissioned work, performances and text-based outcomes. Stay tuned for more!
Zaiba Jabbar is an award winning director, independent curator and founder of HERVISIONS (est. 2015). With over a decade of experience in the film and media sectors, her curatorial practice is an investigation into how people in the margins are using technology to create art outside of traditional contexts and making space for themselves in the digital environment. Jabbar was curator in residence at LUX in (2018) and is a board member of Abandon Normal Devices.
HERVISIONS is a femme-focused curatorial agency facilitating online and offline experiences and collaborations with partners to research and produce innovative commissions, exhibitions and events working across new and emergent technologies and platforms with a strong focus on the intersection of art, technology and culture. Previous exhibitions and partners include, Art Night, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, i-D x Chanel, Boiler Room, LN-CC, BFI, Gossamer Fog, The London College of Fashion, isthisit?, Mira Festival, LOOM Festival and Google Arts and Culture.’