A couple of highlights from a visit to the Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art. Rotterdam
One of Us Is On the Wrong Side of History! By Xu Zhen (1977, China) is a huge installation on the ground floor of the Witte de With, Contemporary Art Gallery. Rotterdam. I spent a while enjoying the collaged comments compiled in linked gold and silver chains of various sizes to form a huge double sided light box. Whilst the the comments were sourced from the past 25 years of WdW exhibitions and publications, poster archive they reminded me of text messages and graffiti that you often find written on school books, walls or in the street. Blinging.
John Gerrard's Sow Farm (Near Libbey, Oklahoma) 2009 is from 'Art in the age of Planetary Computation' at the Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art. Rotterdam
Two rusted steel frames enclose LCD screens which depict CGI modeled automated agricultural-industrial complexes. These virtual portraits of Google server buildings (data farms) were artificially constructed from photographic studies gathered by using a hired helicopter. Powerful works that seem to gently hum like a computer on sleep mode. There is movement – just (!) in the grass plants that surround the plants. The sequences convey a very tangible sense of foreboding – shut down and switch off your stuff.