From Transhuman to South Perspectives at Rowing, London
What would you expect from art in the decades ahead? These weeks in London, a group exhibition at Rowing reflects on this question, in the attempt to identify the tendencies and events of present days, what lies in the future of art but also of our society as a whole.
From Transhuman to South Perspectives’ installation view, Rowing, London, 2016
From Transhuman to South Perspectives brings together artwork by artists of different generations, backgrounds and practices, giving a panoramic perspective on the current debate about the next steps of humanity. The show takes a firm position against an unilateral idea of progress, affirming that, most probably, the future will take shape from multiple, and perhaps contrasting, developments.
In the essay accompanying the exhibition, curators Charlotte Cosson and Emmanuelle Luciani briefly take into consideration a few theories at the core of the current speculation on all possible futures. The two curators outline the main contrasts between one school of thought, asserting the idea of infinite growth in capitalistic society (supported by an ever more intrusive and impacting presence of technologies in our lives), and another, widespread tendency towards a more natural and spontaneous way of living, that puts in discussion the economical structures at the base of our society. The biggest achievement of this show is in fact being able to harmonize all these voices in a chorus of pleasant dissonances, disclosing a powerful revelation to whoever ventures inside the gallery space.
From Transhuman to South Perspectives’ installation view, Rowing, London, 2016
Wrapped in a fleshy envelopment as in a frame of mysterious origin – an experiment of the latest bio-technologies or a trophy from an ancestral ritual? – all the artworks in the show stand as a whole, disposed on a circular path. Then multiple perspectives of fruition appear through the shreds stitched together by Atena Papadopoulos, promptly presenting another visual reference to the transhuman aesthetic: in ‘On Broken Fingers‘ a couple of gloved hands are connected with thick transmission cables to melted lenticular screens bearing images of human body parts. If the fusion of man and technology seems very close to the upholders of this theory, artists Estrid Lutz & Emile Mold show how the process of fluid communication between the organic matter and the machine is still on a primordial stage, and not free of the turmoil that accompanies the transition.
Estrid Lutz & Emile Mold, On Broken Fingers (top) Untitled (bottom)
GCC’s video Co-Op breaks the suffused atmosphere in the room, grabbing the eye with an impressive 3D scenography which blends real images of architectonical cliché of power with redundant milieu of progress and wealth, where the vernacular details have been accurately removed for the sake of the apotheosis of the Capitalocene, a new era dominated by publicity and exponential economic growth. If hyper-capitalism represents one possible scenario for the decades ahead, the artist duo RJJ Carron looks for an alternative model of economy, able to sustain small creative businesses, and to make art affordable not only to an elite. The flag-piece that gives the name to the show is in fact one of the artifacts produced through a process of collective enterprise with local shops in Marseille, where the artists have created wearable artworks to distribute independent trademarks.
From Transhuman to South Perspectives’ installation view, Rowing, London, 2016
This idea of small scale production and a broader distribution of the art is also at the core of the practice of a few artists in the show, determined to break the secular separation between arts and crafts. Working with different materials, Matteo Nasini re-discovers the expressive properties of the weft, where warp and woof pour out in a liberating crying of fluffy pink wool; Robert Rush gives shape to his anthropomorphic ceramics from a rough and bare hand-manipulation of clay; and Gabriel Meo assembles everyday materials in iconic sculptures, celebrating the impulsiveness of many different crafting techniques, in an attempt to point out an alternative to the corporate system of production of contemporary art.
From Transhuman to South Perspectives’ installation view, Rowing, London, 2016
Another possible point of divergence with the future developments imagined until this point in the show is illustrated by a few artworks gathering under the guide of ‘Flora and Fauna‘ by Dorothy Iannone, who, back in the days of the Beat Generation, was prophesying a new age of renovated unity with nature through a rich imagery evoked by the psychedelic colours and the unrestrained decoration of her paintings. Echoing a riotous culture, these pieces by Aurora Pelizzi (tanned and imprinted animal hide), Octave Rimbert- Riviera (totem and monolithic earthenwares), and Lupo Borgonovo (synthetic props recalling fossils of extinct species) return to meditate on the idea of the work of art as a vehicle to open a dialogue with the forces of nature.
Even from the very first glimpse, the exhibition shows very clearly its insight into the days yet to come. If, as curators write, «artworks are formal crystallizations of social shifts,» From Transhuman to South Perspectives intentionally puts under the spotlight those «underground forces» willing to «offer a glimpse of different possible futures – futures contradicting our society’s current stasis.»
From Transhuman to South Perspectives’ installation view, Rowing, London, 2016
From Transhuman to South Perspectives: Dorothy Iannone, Aurora Pellizzi, GCC, Gabriel Meo, Octave Rimbert-Riviere, Estrid Lutz & Emile Mold, Lupo Borgonovo, Matteo Nasini, Athena Papadopoulos, and Robert Rush.
Curated by Charlotte Cosson & Emmanuelle Luciani. Rowing, London through 14th May 2016
