Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens

Slater Bradley
January 29, 2016 - April 2, 2016
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany (Group)

Slater Bradley
3rd Wave Solar Shield
2015
Marker on C-Print mounted to 4mm Alu-Dibond, Artglass UV 90, Oak
Shield: 179,6 x 111 cm
Artist Frame: 215,2 x 133 cm

January 29–April 2, 2016
Berlin

Theodora Allen
Slater Bradley
Lucy Dodd
Lizzie Fitch / Ryan Trecartin
Andy Hope 1930
Oliver Laric
Pew Die Pie
Jon Rafman
Pamela Rosenkranz
Sara VanDerBeek
Stan VanDerBeek
Lesley Vance
Andro Wekua

curated by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen / GOODROOM

Bringing together the practice of thirteen international artists, the exhibition Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens appeals to the intuitive mind and creativity beyond referential thinking. Departing from the artists´ production, it navigates through narratives in the realm of surrealist animation, abstraction and subjects of ‘New Materialism’ embracing the logic of the internet.

The concept of the show develops around notions of the screen as an interface for both the conscious and the subconscious mind, as well as a surface for projections of communication and technological abstraction. The exhibition aims to synchronize the intuitive mind with screens as doorways to lucid states of both the rational and the dream-like. As Jean Baudrillard claims, “we used to live in the imaginary world of the mirror and the stage. Today, we live in the imaginary world of the screen, the interface and networks. We too have become screens.” This entails states of increasing polarities.

Exploring perceptions of the ‘Self’ defined through screens – as entry gates and liminal, transitional spaces of contemplation – the artists and the artwork speak via codes, signs and symbols, the magical and transcendental, secrets, hidden information and ‘behind the scenes’ moments.

What happens to our sense of belonging, our social relationships and the ‘Self’, when the intuitive mind becomes increasingly transformed by technology and removed from natural experiences and the body? How do screens feel?

Text by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen

“The story of evolution unfolds with increasing levels of abstraction.”
Raymond Kurzweil: How to Create a Mind (2012)

“Is this the place, they make you real?”
Quote from: A-I (2001), directed by Steven Spielberg

“The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.”
Jorge Luis Borges: The Infinite Library, Labyrinth (1941)

“Truth is a kind of absolute reality, if you can say so: surreality.”
André Breton: Manifesto of Surrealism (1924)

Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens

Enquiry