Drawing Wire – Life Drawing with Technology
Hosted by the School of Machines I am offering a series of experimental workshops looks to the future of drawing by imagining how the practice might evolve in response to technology. Each workshop in the series introduces technological disruptions or augmentations into the traditional life drawing session. These workshops are intended to be exploratory and we hope they will challenge you to think and draw in new ways. They are…
Fusion achieved at last in Huxley
I met Geraldine Cox in a windy garet on the roof of the physics building. The abandoned weather station is an octagonal room half-open to the elements and filled with drying clothes, bits of mouldering, esoteric looking equipment and empty beer bottles. It was an appropriately idiosyncratic setting for an interview with a unusual person. Geraldine is the Department of Physics’ artist in residence. Over the sound of the howling…
Killer rob-arts attack
There is an underground space near Baker Street that feels a lot like a baroque sci-fi future. The half-light is illuminated by occasional flashes of neon. Blue and green lasers strafe the ceiling and an eerie soundscape of ambient electronic squawks and whirring servos greets the intrepid. Skulls in mechatronic legs stalk the space and glowing orbs shimmer with undulating constellations of colour. The Kinetica Art Fair, now in its…
The Artist the Scholar and the Zealot
The frontier of science is a wild and lawless place. Like all badlands, it attracts visionaries, charlatans and the dispossessed. Far from the jurisdiction of law enforcers, isolated communities cluster together and thrive in quiet obscurity. No group however, is quite so strange as the bio-hackers. So, pack your wagon and keep you revolver close as we venture into transhumanist territory and meet a few of the locals.
Centrefold :: New short film
Female genital cosmetic surgery is on the rise. The number of labiaplasties performed in the UK has increased at least five-fold in the last decade. This week sees the release of Centerfold, an animated documentary exploring issues surrounding real women’s choice to have the procedure. The film has already won a Best Animation award at the 2012 Scinema Festival of Science Film and seems set for further acclaim. I went along to the official…
Venus :: Fernando Vicente
I came across the works of Fernando Vicente this Christmas. The exhibition was tucked away in a gallery hidden behind a painfully hip art bookshop in Madrid. The show hosted the entirety of his “Venus” series, the latest exhibition from the spanish illustrator. These images do not, in truth, represent the most elevated or cerebral art I have showcased on this blog. I did however enjoy this fun, sexy and slightly disturbing take on feminine glamour. The girls are…
The Punk Ballerina :: Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage’s limited run of performances at the Southbank Center were billed as science inspired punk-ballet. On the basis of that description alone I realised that my attendance was inevitable. Nothing however could have prepared me for the breathtakingly energetic, shockingly beautiful dance I witnessed. The show featured extracts from Two Theories and Drastic-Classicism both groundbreaking, iconoclastic works from the Director. Armitage’s choreography subverts classical ballet through modern and street…
The British Library // Out of this World
Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it is an unwieldy title for a neat exhibition. The British Library’s brave choice to host a display of science fiction literature could signal one of two things. Possibly the genre has finally shaken off the prejudice that has haunted it since the great 50s pulp deluge and come of age as a literary movement. Alternatively the perfusion of sci-fi into film and TV has caused it to so saturate…
GV Art // Art & Science
GV Art have form when it comes to art/science collaborations. The north London gallery, curated by Robert Devčić, frequently hosts artists who are strongly influenced by advances in medicine and biotechnology. Their latest exhibition Art & Science is the most explicit exploration of these themes yet. Pics and discussion after the jump. Devčić has been particularly audacious in setting the tone of the show. The press release certainly sets an ambitiously wide scope: These days the term ‘art and science’ is on everyone’s lips…
Kevin E. Taylor
Born in Charleston, South Carolina Kevin E. Taylor primarily works in oil. I feel justified in featuring him here because of the strong, or be it implicit, environmental themes in his work. The environment is basically science right? I love the surreal atmosphere of his work. Through the decontextualisation of creatures in their environmental he creates a palpable sense of forlorn despite the clinical beauty of his images. Common strands that run through all of his work are of isolation and queasy misunderstanding between humanity and nature. I…
Epidermal Electronics // Tattoos & Transistors
This week has seen the publishing of a fairly major breakthrough in the field of man/machine interfacing. The epidermal electronic system (EES) developed by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (and numerous other institutions) have developed a technique which allows the transfer of circuitry onto human skin using techniques identical to that of a temporary tattoo. This gives me the rare excuse to write some proper science. The task of integrating circuitry with…
The Architect’s Brother :: Robert ParkeHarrison
I am, as usual, miles behind the curve in featuring this artist. Robert ParkeHarrison was brought to my attention months ago by the beautiful people at Coilhouse. You can read Nadya Lev’s post here. I thought I would add my tuppence anyway. More pics after the jump… ParkeHarrison’s photos are displayed in exhibitions worldwide for good reason. Their naive, nostalgic beauty gives them a universal appeal. The German word Sehnsucht describes an “inconsolable longing” in the human heart for “we know not what” and is often used…