3/10/2011 'Dark Matters'

The exhibition was held at the Whitworth gallery, the subject matter consisted of all that's considered mysterious and exciting : magic, illusion, darkness, time, loss and visual riddles. New media and modern technology used for creating art was definitely a key feature, 'The Kiss' by R. Luke Debois is a prime example of this. The artist had taken shots from films of characters kissing and applied digital effects so visually the actors appeared like pixelated, frantically moving dots; fast, rapidly changing music accompanied this. Personally i was left asking 'Is this it ?'. For me the visual effects of digital 'art' is not enough to keep my interest and attention. The work, for me, was fairly 'substance-less'. The artist collaboration 'Brass Art' had also created a piece to feature in 'Dark Matters', which consisted of a round table situated in a darkened room. On top of the table were a many number of items including a deer antler that had been created using a 3-D scanner and 3-D printer. Circling this table was a bright light that displayed the shadows of these items across the wall at a constant speed which changed the appearance continually. As a viewer my own shadow became a part of this piece as i stood viewing it, making me wonder about this as an intentional act by the artists. I truly enjoyed this piece and think it was a brilliant example of how digitally created art can still be interesting whilst allowing the viewer 'join in'. 

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/darkmatters/