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School of Visual Arts, New York

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FACTT

Bio lab with tables that have green pieces on top and magenta flowers, with a screen that has a cactus projected on it.

Exhibition

FACTT

October 1, 2017

Location: SVA Fine Arts Building

Artists

Suzanne Anker, Andrew Carnie, Pedro Miguel Cruz, Andrew Cziraki,  Marta de Menezes and Luis Graça, Joana Ricou, Ken Rinaldo, Tarah Rhoda, and Amy Youngs.

Petri dish with various biomorphic textures, there is a red/orange circle in the middle of the petri dish surrounded by a ring of blue, there is small blurry black text printed across the petri dish that mimics expiration dates you see on containers.

The general theme chosen for FACTT 2017 comes from a variation on Deleuze’s famous title. The trans-disciplinary focus of this festival asked for a theme which allowed any artist, scientist or thinker, regardless of their area of expertise, to embrace the common ground to all these fields which is rarely addressed. This way one can analyze the importance of “trial and error”, serendipity, repeatability, originality, convergence/divergence, creativity, nature/nurture, subjective/objective and many other concepts or ideas connected to it.

SVA Bio Lab with tables in the center of the room, with shelves on the left side continuing onto the back of the room, there is a laptop, chairs, and various lab equipment on the right side of the room, floral bodysuits and various plants are on the tables and shelves. Bio lab with tables that have green pieces on top and magenta flowers, with a screen that has a cactus projected on it. Sculpture of an IV bag filled with black liquid and green leaves, with a syringe filled with chartreuse liquid and a blue tip with a needle pointing down into a long necked glass beaker will with blood it all sits on a white pedestal framed by metal beams there is a projected blue circular light onto the middle of the sculpture against the wall. Sculpture with a hanging IV bag filled with black liquid and green leaves, connected to a syringe filled with chartreuse liquid with a blue tip and a needle pointing down towards a small narrow glass container, small metal beams are on the right and left side of the sculpture. Petri dish shown on a TV screen, there is a red circle in the center of the petri dish surrounded by blue and small blurry black text is written across like an expiration date Sculptural installation with three small black projectors projecting transmission towers, intestines, and a biological form Installation of a small black projector, projecting an image of a biological shape onto gray speckled floor Projection of two transmission towers on a gray speckled surface Three green floral bodysuits with orange flowers, the head of the bodysuits are stuffed and there are flowers/plants coming out of each one, one is pink, one is red, and the other has green leaves coming out of it 6 petri dishes with small black writing on the edges of each of the petri dishes Square petri dish with a 5 Euro bill on the top and a 10 Euro bill on the bottom of the dish, with black specks spread across the petri dish Square petri dish with two bills of money that is blurry with black specks spread across the petri dish 6 photographs of magenta/pink petri dishes on black backgrounds, hung on a gray wall by two rows of three photographs lined up, to the right is a white pedestal with three glass jars with black lids with white rectangular tags on them and green substance inside the jars 6 photographs of pink/magenta petri dishes on a black background, hung on a gray wall, two of the photographs on the bottom are fully visible, the other four photographs are cut off. TV with a small round cactus in the middle of the screen, there are green foliage behind the TV on the bottom

Theme for New York and Mexico City: Art & Health

The proximity between Art and Health is far greater than most can imagine. In fact, artists and scientists often have very similar perceptions of the world. One of the main differences is the fact that they represent them with different languages.

Being Health such a crucial field in Science it makes sense to consider how it can influence Art. Regarding its absence one has to take in consideration disease, addiction or other psychiatric issues which possibly gave rise to many art works and even historical movements. But if we take into account what it can offer to Art we need to start with the new knowledge and technologies this field allows artists to use as “new media”. Eventually, among many other possible connections, Health research will inevitably bring new insights of ourselves and what we create including Art in particular and culture in general.

On the other hand it is critical to pay attention to what Art can offer to the health sciences. We can think in immediate and specific terms and remind ourselves of art therapy for example. However, in very broad terms one can take note of Art’s contribution to lateral thinking which is often essential to molecular biology and many other Health-related research. Also and maybe even more relevant is the influence artistic practice can have on any psyche (healthy or otherwise) including the artist’s and the public’s psyche… if we extend this to the future we can even consider the production, understanding/sensitivity of Art and  less logical/poetical connections as being essential for artificial intelligence to simulate human behavior perfectly and maybe even be able to develop an emotional dimension.The theme chosen by the curatorial team for FACTT New York 2017 was Norm and Mutation. Each of these words have to be taken in their broadest sense. Which means they can be interpreted in social, philosophical, scientific, artistic or poetical terms since both are inherent to creativity, thought, experimentation, social analysis, meme theory, etc… Norm as copy/repetition. Mutation as variation/difference.

 

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