Friday 30 November 2012

Patricia Piccinini

There is an amazing video piece at the Patricia Piccinini exhibition at Haunch of Venison gallery on New Bond Street where a woman has some kind of CGI goo pouring out of her mouth onto the ground which accumulates to form the structures around her. It reminded me of some of what we have been discussing in class, particularly in regards to materialist notions about the voice. 

The exhibition is definitely worth seeing as it also deals with really interesting ideas surrounding nature/culture. 

The press release from Haunch of Venison reads, "The characters in Piccinini’s stories are alien creatures, mutated animal/human hybrids and startlingly lifelike - they simultaneously attract and unsettle the viewer. Her anthropomorphised machines - motorbikes as lovers, staring lovingly at one another – reference both a universal instinct to apply human emotions to all animals and things, as well as an implied genealogy that humans and technology are increasingly intertwined. Her work  ultimately questions the way that contemporary technology and culture changes an understanding of what it means to be human and the relationships with, and responsibilities towards, the things mankind creates in the name of progress."


1 comment:

  1. interesting - I've been thinking about Masks and the uncanny valley of dolls and the ventriloquist's dummy and how this aspect relates to voice.... the mask is super-prevalent in horror, as are animated dolls - it is not quite an acousmatic voice but halfway - the main evolutionarily significant locus of communication/thing perception is hidden.

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