For my further artistic practice I would like research the accelerating effect the implementation of digital technology and algorithms has on an individual.
For my further artistic practice I would like research the accelerating effect the implementation of digital technology and algorithms has on an individual.
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
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Here is a heading
Ich bin ein Textabschnit. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt.
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Helen Chadwick
​© Helen Chadwick, Viral Landscapes, 1988
"What will happen if we step into this universe that doesn’t belong to this Earth, but can exist?” – Helen Chadwick
the body and the environment
the “biased” world of physicalities
fluidity of identity
removing bodily boundaries
“In each montage the photograph of a rocky and savage coastal landscape is partially overlaid and merged with enlarged images of cells from her own body. Chadwick’s work refers to a number of issues: ecological pollution, the unity of human experience with nature, identity and self-sufficiency, the uncertainty of boundaries and fear of violence. It offers a provocative alternative to an idealized and romantic view of nature.” (Mercer Union, 1991)
​© Helen Chadwick, Viral Landscapes, 1988
Walker describes the human being of that time as looking upon nature from a distance. He is being active and controlling over the landscape that is looked on as something passive because the relationship that humans have developed towards nature or toward non-humans is extractive. (Walker, 2021)
One of Helen Chadwicks overriding concerns was with identity and she explored a rethinking of it. She was drawn to enigmas and riddles which is why she was more interested in aspects of identity where it became destabilized and where it was under the threat of collapse. Being attentive to things that resist definition and closure, she was interested in far from equilibrium states and used the ambiguities she noticed in scientific research during her residencies to challenge the dominance that she believed science had established over a whole ray of thinking. (Walker, 2021)
Fluidity of Identity
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She was advocating for a more fluid relationship between humans and non-humans. That is why she combined photographs and hugely enlarged microscopic images of her own cells (from mouth, ear, blood, cervix and kidney) as for her the body does not end at its outer boundary. “The works as a whole address the productive loss of identity” she explained in her notebook. This work challenges the idea of self portraiture with the bodily boundary being removed as the human figure disappears from the images. “We are energy and matter (meat) and that is our fleshhood” (Chadwick). (Bukantas; Walker, 2021)
For Chadwick the outer boundary of the body does not define the human identity. Identity can be broken down to a cellular level with the boundary of the cell being the lowest common denominator of selfhood. (Walker, 2021)
Viruses and cells are shown in their aggressive relation to each other as information can flow in both directions. The environment has an impact on the cells of the human which opens up new spaces for the association of self with the outward and to invest more attention in the unseeable in our identities. (Walker, 2021)
Walker raises the question how events like the covid pandemy alter our relationship to the environment and with each other? How does it change very engrained patterns of behavior?(Walker, 2021)
Key Takeaways
Why is it relevant to me?
The approach Chadwick takes to connect identity and the environment is very valuable for my own approach to show a connection between the human and the digital.
She dissolves the human body and finds new ways to include it into her work without depicting its outer appearance. I find that very fascinating.
She shares the perception of a fluid identity with other sources of my research which gives a new stylistic contribution to my set of inspirations.
This fluidity of boundaries in a human experience that is connected and not separate from the natural world shows this destabilization even the loss of identity, turning the human into pure energy.
What are my key take aways?
The abstraction of thought in the final pieces is very fascinating to me. It seems almost like a takeover of colour in a seemingly loose application of paint. She places the highly detailed microscopic elements onto the macro landscape and gives both the same importance. I am very inspired by how she plays with proportions to communicate her thoughts.
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How will I implement it?
I will try to layer different styles of painting in my future paintings and keep the fluid visual effect to connect them to each other and to think more freely about proportions and how I can augment them to enrich the idea in the painting.
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References
Bukantas, A (no date) Transcript of Viral Landscapes Podcast. Available at: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/transcript-of-viral-landscapes-podcast (Accessed: 25 Jan 2022)
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Mercer Union (1991) Viral Landscapes. Available at: https://www.mercerunion.org/exhibitions/west-gallery-helen-chadwick-viral-landscapeseast-gallery-martin-pearce/ (Accessed: 10 Dec 2021)
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Walker, S (2021) Viral Landscapes. University of Manchester / Arts and Humanities. Available at: https://faculti.net/viral-landscapes/ (Accessed: 10 Jan 2022)
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