Eddie Clemens reimagines the void in new installation

Eddie Clemens reimagines the void in new installation

Eddie Clemens combines his fascination for the architecture of the Adam Art Gallery with his knowledge of James Cameron’s films in a new video installation that launches this Friday.

Collector’s Edition Glitch (Viewing Bridge) is the third and final installation of the Adam Art Gallery’s RELOAD | Kirk Gallery Series 2014.

Riffing on the bridge that allows visitors to view the long Chartwell Galleries from the Level 2 Mezzanine, Clemens reimagines the vertigionous spaces of the Ian Athfield-designed building as settings from a medley of James Cameron movies, all sourced from the internet. Scenes from Titanic and The Abyss mix with outtakes from Terminator 2 in Clemens’ self-consciously low-tech iMovie remix.

In this installation, Clemens blurs distinctions between 2- and 3-D reality to remind us of how images, objects, and spaces are becoming interchangeable under the sway of our intensifyingly visual culture.

“Clemens is interested in the ‘glitch’, an error or malfunction in the system. Playfully pinpointing technology’s achilles heel is a way for the artist to reconnect with the human labour behind CGI special effects and thus puncture Hollywood’s illusions,” says Christina Barton, Director of the Adam Art Gallery, and curator of the RELOAD series.

Eddie Clemens is an Auckland-based artist who works at the interface of digital media, sculpture, and performance. His works were last seen in Wellington in 2012 as part of the City Gallery’s survey of sculpture,The Obstinate Object. An exhibition at Gloria Knight in Auckland, Wes Craven Marina, has just closed (on 9 August).

The video installation will be launched at 5.30pm on Friday 15 August with a discussion between the artist and Rebecca Boswell, a curator from Christchurch.

This is the final of three one-work installations brought together as RELOAD | Kirk Gallery Series 2014. It was preceded by Shannon Te Ao’s two-channel video projection Follow the Party of the Whale, and Hito Steyerl’s Is a Museum a Battlefield?, a video-lecture produced for the 13th Istanbul Biennial.

What: Eddie Clemens, Collector’s Edition Glitch (Viewing Bridge)

RELOAD | Kirk Gallery Series 2014

Where: Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington

Gate 3, Kelburn Parade

When: Launch and discussion: 5.30pm Friday 15 August

All welcome, no RSVP required

Exhibition: 15 August–21 September

Tuesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm (closed on Monday)

Free entry

ends

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