'Sentient Cog' August 3rd - 15th September 2002
the 5th, Dublin An exhibition exploring the relationship between electronic, mechanical and human emotion. In the 18th Century the great Jaquet-Droz made an automaton which could scrawl its own name, according to some sources it also wrote, Cogito ergo sum. This machine operates on a simple system of cams and cogs making it the ancestor of the computer plotter.? 'Sentient Cog' features five Irish and International artists exploring the relationship between electronic, mechanical and human emotion. The works in this exhibition create, destroy, measure, react and tamper with their environment. They use everything from artificial perception to damaged function in questioning how we interact with modern technology on all levels and vice versa.? Artists include: Bjoern Schuelke: Drone #2.? The futuristic appearance of Bjoern Schuelke's "Drone #2" seems like a requisite from a science fiction film. The autonomous hi-tech construct, consisting of solar cells, heat sensors, propellers, videochips and a TFT monitor is suspended from the ceiling and reacts to the "warm-blooded" spectator without him or her being able to directly influence its movement. This construction, at first glance finely structured and fragile, mutates, once activated, into a menacing surveillance apparatus whose function is nothing but permanent observation.? Simon Lewandowski: Rudimentary machinery that outputs drawings which have a short lifetime in which to be viewed and then are destroyed and strewn across the gallery floor.? "If one were to draw a circle around the range of human activities which constitute "Art", I hope my own trajectory would constitute a line from its center to a point well outside its circumference - simultaneously and at any given time..." Jeremy Deadman: 'Electric Head'? Originally shown in 'Kling Klang', a Tate Liverpool off-site project on the HMS Plymouth. 'Electric Head' is one of a series of seemingly malfunctioning electrical objects that strain through sound and situation to evolve and describe their state of being. Saoirse Higgins: r >emote r >emote is an interactive installation looking at the subtlety of human emotions and energy. Taking this energy Higgins is examining the bridge between digital and physical worlds - the lack of human emotion and expression in virtual space and our attempts to understand ourselves through a mixture of science and superstition. Janusz Gr?nspek: " The future begins inside your head. What are you thinking of? "? Gr?nspek is occupied with technical and human development, his work traces the displacement of faith and religion by technological advances. To help us adjust to our modern lives he has created several ultra modern objects such as 'The Inner Silence Finder' and the 'The Friendship Tester'. Curated by Paul Murnaghan. 5th is open daily from 9.30 to 5.30pm. Admission is free. For more information contact Isobel Egan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> , Artistic Co-ordinator, 5th Tel: 01-408480 5th @ Guinness Storehouse, St James Gate, Dublin 8. http://www.5th.ie ------------------------------------------------- a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and write "info ambit" in the message body -------------------------------------------------
