Reveal/Reset

5th August to 5th September 2009, Wed-Sun, 10am-6pm.
Inspace, 1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB

Digital culture is pervasive and ever evolving. The Alt-w Fund supports experimentation with new media, as both artistic subject and as creative tool. The focus for 2008/09 was to support projects which dynamically engage audiences beyond the traditional screen.

Alex Hetherington, Benjamin Dembroski, Distance Lab, Emma Tolmie, FOUND, Wendy McMurdo & Paul Holmes, Sarah Kettley, Thomson & Craighead, ~ in the fields.

This exhibition reflects our information-rich world where attention is a commodity. As consumers we filter, as creators we share. In response, we forge new paths. These artists engage with these accelerated times and its dispersed networks of communication.

Alex Hetherington has explored cultural forms that employ fakery and deliberate misinformation. Distance Lab’s body-drawing communicator allow lovers to communicate over distance through the language of touch using light alone. FOUND Electronics have created Cybraphon, a robotic band, image conscious and emotional, its performance effected by online community opinion.

Emma Tolmie has subverted the experience and aesthetics of 3D film with a retro-futurist vibe. Thomson & Craighead have produced a whirlwind tour of the world’s war zones using Google Earth and the photostreams of Flickr. Sarah Kettley’s Aeolia wearables have found finely crafted new ways to sense our own body movement.

Wendy McMurdo and Paul Holmes were inspired by digitised avatar figure skaters at once real, manipulated and now delightfully mimicked. Benjamin Dembroski’s network of delicate sensor driven devices seduce as they sway. Shrouded in Scotch mist, ~in the fields have visualised the poetry in bird’s flight and the ultimate triumph of nature over man.

The distribution of Alt-w Fund awards is managed by New Media Scotland and funded by Scottish Screen and Scottish Arts Council.