I’M HERE BUT I’M NOT A CAT is a group show which takes its title from a viral video of a Zoom court case, in which a lawyer is unable to disable a filter that makes him appear as a talking cat while he nervously repeats “I’m here live, I am not a cat”. This video seems to encapsulate the condition we all find ourselves in today: an existence dominated by the prominence of the screen and an uneasy blurring of the virtual and the real.
Growing from Zoom conversations between the artists during the pandemic – which dramatically increased our time spent in the immaterial zone of the screen – this show explores the tension between the digital and the material through works that express a desire to reconnect with material reality and be physically present in the world.
I’M HERE BUT I’M NOT A CAT features a group of artists whose strong background in moving image began to expand into other media during the pandemic, each grapples with the dominance of the screen in our lives and the proliferation of digital images, while seeking to also return to the physicality of making and being.
With a shared interest in the tension between imagined and lived realities, Daniel & Clara’s and Adonia Bouchehri’s work explores subjective experiences of place – real, imagined and virtual – across a breadth of cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Duncan Poulton’s digital collages bear witness to our hyper-connected, screen-fuelled state of constant disorientation, whilst Edwin Rostron’s intuitive paintings and hand-drawn animations deal with ideas of metamorphosis and multiplicity.
This exhibition includes moving image, sculpture, painting, collage and photographs from exhibiting artists:
Adonia Bouchehri @adoniabouchehri
Daniel & Clara @daniel_and_clara
Duncan Poulton @duncpoulton
Edwin Rostron @edwinrostron2
I’M HERE BUT I’M NOT A CAT, 22nd September – 1st October 2023 SET Kensington, 7-17 Ansdell St, London W8 5BN
