Ranu Mukherjee has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, as well as at a range of alternative venues, film festivals and conferences such as Virtual Futures 2 & 3. As part of the collective Orphan Drift, collaborative projects have been presented at SYZYGY and EXPO-DESTRUCTO. Her audio-visual performances have been presented at Leeds University, Goldsmith’s College and the Royal College of Art.
Lorna Brown is a visual artist, writer, educator and editor, exhibiting her work internationally since 1984. Brown was the Director/Curator of Artspeak Gallery from 1999 to 2004 and is a founding member of Other Sights for Artists’ Projects, a collective of artists, architects and curators presenting projects that consider the varying conditions of public places and public life. She has taught at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and Simon Fraser University. Brown received an honorary degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2015), the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts Award (1996) and the Canada Council Paris Studio Award (2000). Her work is in the collections of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the BC Arts Council, the Surrey Art Gallery and the Canada Council Art Bank.
Director/Curator of Artspeak 1999–2004.
Technical Support
RANU MUKHERJEE
June 23–July 29, 2000
“What qualities in humans do you most value?”
“Do you ever feel like you are mutating and if so how?”
As part of ‘Zero Degree Monstrosities: A Theme Park of Art and Technology’, produced in collaboration with digital eARTh, Artspeak is pleased to present work by London-based artist Ranu Mukherjee. Using a web-based questionaire, the artist gathered responses to questions concerning ‘fantasy’, ‘reality’ and notions of ‘mutation’. These responses were used to ‘build’ a new work addressing the paradox of presence in a biotech world.
‘Technical Support’ is an installation work using video projections and objects to create an immersive environment in the gallery space. The projections layer voice and rhythmic imagery: the objects or ‘frozen animations’ are influenced by Haitian Vodou Arts. Within this newly defined space, Mukherjee investigates the relationship between digital and ritual practice and the nexus of biology and technology. ‘Technical Support’ uses tactile surfaces, ruptures of time and illusions of depth to explore the the possibility of inter-related subjectivities that emerge and dissolve simultaneously.
‘Zero Degree Monstrosities: A Theme Park of Art and Technology’ is a joint venture with Digital eARTh, and includes exhibitions and events at multiple venues across the city. Looking to the historical precendents of the theme park such as medieval carnivals and 19c amusment parks, this series of events and exhibitions explores our fear and fascination with hybrids, new models and dangerous inventions – uncontrolled ‘newness’ and misplaced methodologies.
For more information go to http://www.digitalearth.org/.