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Gallery Talk at The Machine Stops


Gallery talk- 4pm on Saturday 24th March.

Join us on Saturday 24 March to celebrate the last day of The Machine Stops, a group exhibition by Adam Hogarth, Clare Mitten, Martin Ward and myself. We will join in conversation to expand on some of the themes explored in the exhibition, including virtual communication versus direct experience and our changing relationship to nature.

Tea and cake from 4-6pm.

Danielle Arnaud contemporary art

123 Kennington Road, London SE11 6SF UK Map

T/F: +44 (0)20 7735 8292

danielle@daniellearnaud.com

www.daniellearnaud.com

opening time: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 2-6pm or by appointment.

THE MACHINE STOPS 24 February – 24 March 2018

By her side, on the little reading-desk, was a survival from the ages of litter — one book. This was the Book of the Machine. In it were instructions against every possible contingency. If she was hot or cold or dyspeptic or at a loss for a word, she went to the book, and it told her which button to press. The Central Committee published it. In accordance with a growing habit, it was richly bound. Sitting up in the bed, she took it reverently in her hands. She glanced round the glowing room as if someone might be watching her. Then, half ashamed, half joyful, she murmured “O Machine! O Machine!” and raised the volume to her lips. Thrice she kissed it, thrice inclined her head, thrice she felt the delirium of acquiescence. - E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops (1909)

The Machine Stops is a group exhibition by artists Adam Hogarth, Clare Mitten, Gabriela Schutz and composer Martin Ward. It takes as its starting point E.M. Forster’s 1909 science fiction story of the same title, which describes a future in which humans live underground, with a global, omnipresent machine fulfilling all physical and spiritual needs. Direct experience between people and/or nature is rare and repellent; communication is instead made virtually through the blue, glowing plates of ‘The Machine’.

Applying Forster’s dystopian vision to the present day, the four artists in this exhibition attempt to understand how screen-based technologies are mediating contemporary experience. Through painting, sculpture, sound and installation, they explore their fascination with the future of these technologies. This excitement is tempered, however, by an increasing disquiet as humanity's reliance on the hi-tech escalates. Forster’s story serves as both an inspiration and a warning — just what does happen when the machine stops?

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