Hybrid Life
Hybrid Life is an exhibition at Pontio which coincides with the IKT Symposium this October. In Pontio’s public spaces and White Box, the blurred intersections of contemporary daily life and technology will be explored through a series of immersive, digital and sculptural artworks. Even the most advanced technologies and innovations are rooted in physical, material sources, and the artists in the exhibition offer multiple perspectives on this hybrid life and explore the tensions inherent in its formation.
With works by Gwenba, Mark Eaglen, Laura Cameron, Paul R Jones and a special commission by Datamosh.
The exhibition is curated by Pontio Public Spaces Creative Coordinator, Manon Awst.
GWENBA
GWENBA is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Cardiff. Her work explores connection [both physical+digital] through a fascination with nature, organisms and storytelling. - - -- non-somatic-touch, the soil and waters (and all the things that grow inside them). BioMORPHIC audio-visual artefacts from ancient futures = data x [♡]. Through text, video, sound, performance and installation work.
Learn more about GWENBA: Website | Instagram
MARK EAGLEN
Mark Eaglen is a multidisciplinary artist exploring relationships of Art, Science, Technology and Nature. His practice is research led, with traditional processes often employed alongside modes of interaction afforded by new technologies and investigations into scientific theory. These approaches build upon concurrent themes of blurred boundary states across space, time and perception that can be traced back throughout his works. He is cofounder of studioMADE.
Recent works explore performative hybrids of sculptural, interactive and real-time processing hierarchies to reflect upon ideas of complexity science through the visual, behavioural and philosophical connections to be found. ‘Quantum Foam and the Scutoid Variations’ – a new interactive video work realised within these investigations, will be presented at Pontio during the IKT Symposium.
Learn more about Mark Eaglen: Website | Instagram
LAURA CAMERON
Laura Cameron uses crochet and needle felting to create soft-sculpture pieces which reflect her fascination with anatomy, medical history, public health and the natural world. Intended as an engaging way of taking things which are usually hidden or microscopic, and showing them as visible and vibrant, is key to communicating science, particularly medical/health topics, in more engaging and accessible ways and instigating more open, less stigmatised conversations. Laura enjoys subverting the expectations which often accompany textiles, promoting them as a place where art, science, and stories meet.
Learn more about Laura Cameron: Website | Instagram
PAUL R. JONES
Paul R. Jones is currently engaged in art-based research that explores the process of transferring digital images from game engines to analog media, sparking inquiries into materiality within post-digital discourse. This hybrid image-making practice challenges conventional definitions of photographic and video work, prompting a reevaluation of the essence of these mediums in the face of rapidly evolving technology.
Furthermore, Jones' research delves into concepts of immediacy and hypermediacy and their relationship to the proposal for a classification of artwork defined as digital-analog hybridity. The world of computer graphic rendering in game engines bears resemblances to the practices of photorealistic painting and photography, whereas analog signals embody unique qualities at the margins of noise and distortion. Jones' artworks leverage these characteristics, emerging as a form of compression aesthetic that engages in a dialogue akin to painting.
Ultimately, the practice of hybrid digital-analog visual imaging, as pursued by Paul R. Jones, serves as a testament to its ongoing evolution and its consistent ability to surprise and challenge viewers in innovative and unexpected ways.
Learn more about Paul R. Jones : Website
DATAMOSH
DATAMOSH is a collaboration between Guy Mayman and Paul R Jones, which began with the discovery of a large archive of educational 35mm slides, audio cassettes and A4 booklets earmarked for destruction. Mayman and Jones are fascinated by the hallucinogenic potential of everyday experiences interacting with memory. The collaboration is a site of excavation and construction, awakening the analogue spectre of the recent past. It re-animates obsolete technology and information, building a montage of improvisation and performance.
Current research involves constructed disturbances existing between digital and analogue material. Objects, performance, images and sound are processed through scanning applications, pre-digital synthesisers and low-quality video recording equipment. The hybrid imagery is presented both within architectural spaces and an augmented reality environment. The artists’ independent practices drive the collaborative inquiry, which acts as a feedback loop celebrating unpredictable, fluid configurations. The research methods and resulting artwork are in the spirit of collage, a process that builds new forms and experience from assemblages of pre-existing material.
DATAMOSH will be presenting a compilation of their extensive video archive together with the premiere of a new work specifically created for the IKT Congress 2023.
Learn more about Datamosh: Instagram