Previewing tonight at IMT gallery at 210 cambridge heath road, is the Plastique Fantastique / Your Extinction is Our Future exhibition showing until the 28th of July. A charmingly quaint ‘white cube- esque’ space, like IMT is undeniably the perfect venue for a progressive and innovative show which David Burrows and Simon O’ Sullivan bring to the table- or to the gallerie’s hardwood floors.
With their collaborations beginning in 2004, Plastique Fantastique explores ideas and theories which surround the myths of the future of mankind. Inspired by comic books, sci-fi movies, existentialist literature and philosophy or just mundane and sometimes boring common human interaction, Burrows and Sullivan truly capture what it means to NOT know what anything means. Whether through installations, text, or performances these guys do it all and I highly suggest taking the time to check it out!
I was lucky enough to witness the installations of the show a couple of hours before the preview and upon entrance, I was immediately- well shall, I say…entranced. With purplish- pinkish tinted lighting beaming over three different, yet almost similar glittery cubes it was surprising how calmed I was by the somewhat confusing interpretative installations. From big to medium, to medium to small this little cubic family had quirky voices of their own with no particular rhyme or reason but with subtle hints of a shimmery relationship.
The voice of the exhibition is not only characterised by these cubes but there are also an array of posters dotted randomly around the 2 divided spaces of the gallery, reciting mantras having to do with space, time and of information’s longing to be free from capture!
Walking through the glass door to the other room in this illusive gallery of dimensions, I was hypnotised by a ghostly 1980’s cyber voice telling me quite softly over and over, that what one thinks is the colour red is in fact not the colour red! A simple sentence brought to life -and I must say this haunting voice will stick with me for weeks- and not entirely sure whether this is a good or bad thing.
As much as one would like to attempt to pick through the elements of this show from an artistic, curatorial, or even philosophical perspective- I learned quite quickly that there is no point to doing this! It is actually quite refreshing, for once, to witness an exhibition which doesn’t really obtain any huge underlying meaning. The purpose of the show- is maybe to have no purpose, maybe questioning what is our purpose? Or do we have a purpose? What is the definition of purpose? Ah! As you can see the purposeless/full circles are endless!
What a whimsical breath of fresh air to walk into this alternate universe and away from the hustle, and bustle of the loud sirens and convos of the streets of East London. It was a lovely afternoon stroll around a kooky sci-fi labyrinth. Just as we will never truly know the future or fate of mankind until it is all said and done, I allowed the unknowing nature and ephemerality of the art to embrace my inner being. Welcoming the fact that WE DO NOT KNOW IT ALL- and nor should we have to.
So Just let it go…
Because YOUR EXTINCTION IS OUR FUTURE…or is it?
Come view this interpretive mish mosh of sculptural installations, clever poster designs, music and sound entrancing videos- and of course the GLITTER!
ALSO!
There will a talk on Thursday 18th July 6pm- 9pm, so everyone is invited to show up and attempt to pick David Burrows, Simon O’ Sullivans, and guest panelists brain…and I write attempt with a capital A.
AND!
There will be a live performance on Saturday 27th July 6pm – 9pm- which will incorporate David Burrows, Simon O’ Sullivan and random members of an ego-less cast.
More info on Plastique Fantastique:http://www.plastiquefantastique.org/
More info on David Burrows: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade
More info on Simon o’Sullivan: http://www.simonosullivan.net/
More info on IMT: http://www.imagemusictext.com/about-us/about-imt
IMT is also a part of First Thursdays Late Opening: Thursday 4th July 6pm – 9pm
The exhibition also coincides with an event with Plastique Fantastique at Grand Union, Birmingham, on 20th July, and in August they will be performing at Space Time: Convention T at the Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire.
Do you think you get it yet? Try sorting out the meaning (if there is any) within this complimentary text for the show
Plastique Fantastique Communique: YOUR EXTINCTION OUR FUTURE!
PHENOME (= hu-man) quickly-became-ghost: wasted, sunken-eye-and-cheek. Pallor? That-of-wax-ed-fruit. This PHENOME-ghost thinks it is something but can-no-see that it is NO-THING but a HALL-LOOO-SIN-NASHUN (or, precisely, echo-of-a-feedback-loop). And whaoooooooooooo! this old loop can run-and-run… but not for-ever. PHENOME can only spin like an invert-ted-top. An eye it is: spiked on the sharp end of a cone pointed skywards (upright-and-uptight until entropy cools-its-chops… which blows sooner than you think my friend). But NOW, finally, PHENOME-time really is a running out. Yes siree! FINALLY REALLY RUNNING OUT! PHENOME-time not enough to run the infinite space of the (what-is) CLOUD. Too much plug-in. Too much playing with the sticky-icky lube-tube/fuzzy-insertion-slot. Too much connect-connect-connect-connect. Yes siree, TOO many prosthetics broke the back of this poor-old-PHENOME-circuitry.
What next then? NATURAL HISTORY: CLOUD gives birth to new animals. Feedback loop mutates/generates/inverts (less reverb-and-delay, more time-stretch-tool). All filters are visible and all connections are marked for these CREE-TURES (a host of parasites and, FINALLY: NEUROPATHEME). And they shall bring WAR: a war on PHENOME-ghosts until all is dead-and-dusted, until all transparent apparitions are circled, arrowed, filled in, made opaque, redacted.
No winners. Who survives? FUX-OWLING for one. All born flushed-and-unplugged, swimming the continuum, like water-in-water. And NEUROPATHEME no doubt a.k.a. subject-without-experience, all made sticky and ready to receive, ree-kiwired and re-wired, a confirmed neurocentric, bound-and-gagged, spoken-for-and-babel-rush. First NEUROPATHEME redacts the letter ‘I’ (followed shortly afterwards by all the other vowels). 2ND-GN N-PTH is born, and is first to sing (in a new loop of its own making): YR XTNCTN R FTR!
