Two exhibitions
dal 1/8/2012 al 1/9/2012
Segnalato da
1/8/2012
Two exhibitions
Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Rachel Mayeri: Primate Cinema - Apes as Family. The artist imagines a primate social drama in a contemporary urban context and shows this to a chimpanzee audience in a dual screen video installation. Cast Contemporaries: featuring works by Christine Borland, Kenny Hunter, Gareth Fisher and Alexander Stoddart amongst others, the exhibition reconsiders the role of reproduction antique sculptures as catalysts for experimental contemporary art.
Rachel Mayeri
Primate Cinema: Apes as Family.
Primate Cinema: Apes as Family is a dual screen video installation that presents a drama written for chimpanzees and performed by human actors juxtaposed with the reactions of an audience of chimps.
Watching the chimpanzees watching themselves portrayed in film, we’re moved to consider how much of our character and behavioural traits we share with our closest primate relatives. Mayeri’s intriguing and amusing story-and-response structure of the installation contains dark undercurrents in its contemplation of the lives of the chimpanzees.
Researched and partly filmed at Edinburgh Zoo, the Los Angeles based artist Rachel Mayeri collaborated with comparative psychologist Dr Sarah-Jane Vick to develop the work. Together they tested different styles and genres of film to understand patterns of cognition and communication amongst research primates.
Shown within the Sculpture Court at Edinburgh College of Art, this is the first presentation of this thought-provoking work in Scotland.
Primate Cinema: Apes as Family was commissioned by The Arts Catalyst and made with financial support from a Wellcome Trust Arts Award, Arts Council England and the Aix-Marseille Institute of Advanced Studies.
The Arts Catalyst commissions contemporary art that experimentally and critically engages with science. It produces provocative, playful, risk-taking artists' projects to spark dynamic conversations about our changing world and seeks new ways to involve artists, scientists and the wider public in a discourse about the impact of science in society www.artscatalyst.org
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Cast Contemporaries
Featuring works by Christine Borland, Kenny Hunter, Gareth Fisher and Alexander Stoddart amongst others, Cast Contemporaries reconsiders the role of reproduction antique sculptures as catalysts for experimental contemporary art.
The copying and drawing of casts has been at the heart of traditional art school education for centuries, yet many critics question the relevance to the development of today’s artists.
This exhibition provides a response, reinterpreting Edinburgh College of Art’s cast collection – one of the most important in the UK – through the perspective of contemporary works, films and educational workshops. Cast Contemporaries is a collaboration between artist Chris Dorsett and Margaret Stewart, curator of the Collection at the College.
3 August 2012, 5—6.30pm
Cinema as Primatology, with artist Rachel Mayeri
Image: Rachel Mayeri, Primate Cinema - Apes as Family
For further information contact Jo Fells: T +44 (0)20 7251 8567 / jo.fells@artscatalyst.org.
Private view and Edinburgh Art Festival launch: Thursday 2 August, 7pm until late
Sculpture Court, Edinburgh College of Art
74 Lauriston Place, EH3 Edinburgh 9DF
Hours: Monday - Sunday 10am-5pm
Free admission