Saturation
KC Tobačna 001, Ljubljana, SI
31 March – 29 April 2016
Saturation is an exhibition showing three works of the artist-in-residency Matthew Biederman. The first one is Perspection, created in collaboration with Pierce Warnecke. The project is an audio-visual installation that explores the viewer’s perception through the use of optical and audio illusions. Apart from Perspection, Biederman is also exhibiting his solo projects R+G+B and Subtracting Color.
Perspection is an audio-visual installation exploring the perception of space through the use of projection on a series of specifically oriented projection surfaces and spatialized audio. Trompe l’oiel has been used throughout history in order to transport the viewer outside their physical location in the same way that contemporary CGI and virtual reality propose experiences outside one’s body or the virtual transportation of the viewer through technology. On the contrary, Perspection seeks to embed the physical experience of perception in place and create a hyperawareness of the act of perception versus a disembodiment or virtual screen space by correlating screen space with physical space. Perspection examines the soundimage relationships from synchronicity to independence of visual and sonic cues of perception through a series of generative audio-visual compositions. Through the use of multistable imagery and sonics the barrier between the physical and screen spaces are modulated between distinct and blurred, heightening the act of perception.
Subtracting Color is a single channel video installation. By stacking gels, color is subtracted from white until there is only black. The process is then repeated with a different set of colors until a full set of gels are exhausted.
R+G+B is a cyclical display of the trichromatic system which defines the world of our digital displays. Systems have been employed in color classification systems since Goethe and Newton attempted to map and explain color relationships. In digital contexts, colors are represented and quantified with specific numeric values for the first time rather than descriptive names. In this work, one one’s visual perception and linguistic representation of color is challenged – when does red become orange? And orange, yellow? And yellow, green?
Colophon
Matthew Biederman & Pierce Warnecke: Saturation, 2016
Artists: Matthew Biederman & Pierce Warnecke
Coproduction: Zavod Projekt Atol (Uroš Veber)
Curator and text: Alenka Trebušak
Design: Ajdin Bašić
Realisation of the exhibition: Technical Service MGML
Thanks to: Aksioma, Tina Dolinšek & ekipa Ljudmile, Tanya Das Neves, Marko Peljhan, Eva, Marko & whole Poligon.
The exhibition was made possible by: City of Ljubljana, Department for Culture, Ministry of Culture of the R. of Slovenia
Project Perspection was suppored by: Canadian Arts Council, ARCADI, Centre National de Cinéma, Région Rhône-Alpes, Le Cube, Crossed Lab, Bandits-Mages / EMARE Canada & Creative Europe programme of the EU.
Bios
Matthew Biederman has been performing, installing and exhibiting works, which explore themes of perception, media saturation, and data systems from a multiplicity of perspectives since the mid nineties. Biederman was the recipient of the Bay Area Artist Award in Video by New Langton Arts in 1999, First Place in the Visual Arts category of Slovenia’s Break21 festival. He has served as artist-in-residence at a variety of institutions and institutes, including the Center for Experimental Television on numerous occasions, CMU’s CREATE lab, the Wave Farm and many more.His works have been exhibited in the US, South America, Europe and Japan, in a variety of festivals and venues such as 7 ATA Festival Internacional (Lima), the 11th Lyon Bienniale, the 2011 Quebec Trienniale, 2014 Montreal Bienniale (Musee des Arts Contemporain), Bienniale of Digital Art (BIAN, Montreal), Artissima (Turin, IT), Moscow Biennale, Art and Alternative Visions (Tokyo) and Sonic Acts (NASA, Amsterdam) among others. As a film and video maker, his works have been included in the FILE festival (Sao Paulo), New Forms Festival (Vancouver), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Paris/Berlin International Meetings, and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. His public works have been shown at the ZeroOne2006 Festival (San Jose US), the SCAPE Biennial in New Zealand as well as producing custom commissions. He has collaborated with musicians as a visual artist since 1999, performing at the historic Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, as well as Ars Electronica, AV Festival, Elektra, Mutek, Futuresonic, FILE and many, many more. His works are included in public, corporate and private collections in North America.
Matthew BiedermanPierce Warnecke is sound and video artist from the US, based in Europe for over a decade. He works equally in the sonic and visual domains via performances, installations and compositions.
In addition to his solo works he collaborates with Frank Bretschneider, Matthew Biederman Keith Fullerton Whitman and more. He has received supporting grants from Germany, Canada, the European Union and France. He currently works as a professor at Berklee Valencia, Spain.
Pierce has presented his works in many international festivals and spaces, such as MUTEK, ZKM, Sonic Acts, KW Institut Berlin, CTM Festival, Elektra, NEMO and more. He has released music on raster-media and Room40 and is represented by CTM’s DISK Agency.
