Dear Spectres,
Please find below the announcement about a new exhibition of
contemporary art and design at Lighthouse:
http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/whatson/dConstruct2010.htm
Suspending Disbelief is a group show, which explores the emerging
field of "design fiction". It is part of Brighton's major digital
design conference, dConstruct.
Suspending Disbelief explores the links between digital design and
artistic practice, presenting new and recent work by internationally
renowned digital artists, such as Julian Oliver (NZ/DE), and
important emerging practitioners, such as Andrew Friend (UK), a
recent graduate from the RCA's Design Interactions programme. It also
includes the UK premiere of the much-discussed work "A Tool to
Deceive and Slaughter" by Caleb Larsen (US), a sculpture which
perpetually auctions itself on eBay.
I hope some of you can make it along to see it.
Best,
Honor Harger
Director
Lighthouse
http://www.lighthouse.org.uk
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Suspending Disbelief
An exhibition by Lighthouse featuring work by Julian Oliver, Caleb
Larsen, Andrew Friend and Becca Gill & Jay Kerry
Preview: 1800, Friday 27 August
Dates: 28 August - 5 September 2010
Opening Times: 1100 - 1800
Venue: Lighthouse, 28 Kensington St, Brighton BN1 4AJ
dConstruct: Friday 3 September
http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/whatson/dConstruct2010.htm
http://2010.dconstruct.org/#dconstruct-exhibition
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* Overview
Suspending Disbelief is programmed to coincide with the international
digital design conference, dConstruct. It draws together works of
contemporary art and design, which exist in the interstices between
the real and the fictional. The artists participating in the
exhibition, materialise speculative ideas, near-futures, or illusory
realities, in a series of verisimilar devices, sculptures,
interactive objects, photographic scenarios and installations which
challenge our perception of what is plausible.
All the works in Suspending Disbelief are being shown in Brighton for
the first time.
* Context
The exhibition is part of Brighton's major digital design conference,
dConstruct (http://2010.dconstruct.org), which each year brings
leading names in design and user interaction to the UK. It is
organised by the design agency, Clearleft and takes place at Brighton
Dome on 3 September 2010, featuring speakers such as Brendan Dawes
(magneticNorth) and David McCandless (Information is Beautiful). The
theme of this year's conference is "design thinking", a
problem-solving methodology that combines empathy, creativity and
rationality.
The exhibition extends the notion of design thinking into the
physical realm, taking place across two sites:
At Lighthouse, the work of Caleb Larsen, Julian Oliver and Andrew
Friend will be on display from 28 August - 5 September.
At the Brighton Dome, Becca Gill & Jay Kerry will be showing their
work for the audiences of dConstruct on 3 September, accompanied by a
film documenting the other works in the exhibition, made by Toby
Amies.
Suspending Disbelief is a pilot project, developed in partnership
with Arts Council England and Clearleft, which looks at the
relationship between art and digital creative industries. In 2011, we
will extend this pilot by delivering a programme of work that further
explores digital culture, and the interplay between artists,
audiences, makers, and designers.
* About the Exhibition
"Maybe there's something beckoning over the horizon that's not design
and not futurism but just something we might call speculative
culture."
Bruce Sterling
Suspending Disbelief draws from the emerging discourse of "design
fiction". The critic and designer, Julian Bleecker describes design
fictions as "imaginative conversations about possible future worlds".
For him, examples of design fiction are "part story, part material,
part idea-articulating prop, part functional software. Design
fictions are component parts for different kinds of near future
worlds. They are like artifacts brought back from those worlds in
order to be examined, studied over. They are puzzles of a sort."
The works in Suspending Disbelief go beyond being mere puzzles: they
are reality hacks, conceptual conundrums and physicalised
thought-experiments which call into question everyday logic and its
interaction rules and rituals. They include a physical sculpture
made by American artist, Caleb Larsen, that is perpetually attempting
to auction itself on eBay; a series of uncannily real, yet seemingly
impossible, devices created by London-based designer, Andrew Friend;
a 3D spatial memory game made by Berlin-based artist Julian Oliver,
that takes the form of a digital Echeresque-world; and an
installation by Bristol-based Becca Gill & Jay Kerry where the
trickery and illusion of 19th century magic is materialised through
pervasive media.
* Works
- Caleb Larsen: A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter, 2009
http://www.caleblarsen.com/projects/a-tool-to-deceive-and-slaughter
- Andrew Friend: Fantastic Series, 2010
Device for Experiencing Lightning Strike, Device for Experiencing the
Invisible, Device for Disappearing (at Sea)
http://www.andrewfriend.co.uk/andrewfriendfant.html
- Julian Oliver: levelHead, 2008
http://julianoliver.com/levelhead
- Becca Gill & Jay Kerry: Magician's Desk, 2010
http://www.mercurialwrestler.com/magicians_desk.html
* About Us
Lighthouse is a leading arts agency in South East England supporting,
commissioning and showcasing new work by artists and filmmakers. As
well as being a vibrant venue for events in Brighton, Lighthouse
produces professional development and mentoring programmes,
exhibitions, and events for digital artists and filmmakers.
Suspending Disbelief is supported by Arts Council England and created
in partnership with Clearleft.
Andrew Friend's work is supported by Spectrum, Ilford and Maison d'Ailleurs.
Lighthouse
Address: 28 Kensington Street, Brighton, BN1 4AJ, UK
Tel: +44 1273 647197
email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.lighthouse.org.uk
Find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LighthouseArts
Join our mailing list: http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/about/signup.html
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