Monday 14 April 2008

FACT Liverpool Visit 29th Mar 08

As Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year has begun, I’ve felt an interest in making my maiden visit to the city. When we discovered the “sk-interfaces” exhibition at FACT Liverpool was soon closing (an exhibition of works relating to the body by Stelarc, Orlan, Eduardo Kac, and our very own Neil White), I felt it would be of real benefit to my work and would be a chance missed if I didn’t attend.

Arriving on the night of Friday the 28th, I enjoyed what appeared to be mild food poisoning from a rather sorry buffet at the historic, but decaying Adelphi Hotel- an experience in itself. Not put off by this, we arrived at FACT and began by viewing the works on display, followed by talks from various artists dealing with human technology interface, Eduardo Kac, Paul Thomas and musician Atau Tanaka.

A striking piece of work was on central display as you entered- one of Eduardo Kac’s “Tele-presence” pieces. The artefact on display is a black body suit, reminiscent of submissive fetish-ware. Much of Kac’s work explores technology’s ability to shift experience and consciousness from one individual to another, and this piece allows a third party to direct the user of the suit, through a camera attached to the eye of the suit. The participant within the suit cannot see, speak and has limited hearing and can only receive audio instructions from the third party thanks to a small speaker in the suit’s ear.This transferral reminded me of the way in which motion capture can be used; transferring articulations of one individual onto another, mapping the mind of one onto the body of another. Kac gave an illuminating talk about his work, and more when we spoke together afterwards, detailing some other projects not on display. What’s interesting about Kac’s work, when compared to the work of Stelarc, is just how simple the works are. Kac uses existing and newly established technologies and with a lightness of touch, presents a new way of viewing them. Image: Tele-presence, Eduardo Kac


I found the whole visit illuminating, seeing many inspiring pieces of work, several of which relate directly to my field. We also made some important new contacts for future work, so all in all, am very pleased with the outcomes and experience gained from the trip.

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