Self-Portrait

Random International

Self-Portrait , – ongoing
Co-workers & Funding
rAndom International, HIVE Projects, Floor 3, 20 Buckle Street, London, E1 8 EH.
Copyright © 1999-2010, rAndom international and operation:Schoener Ltd All rights reserved
http://www.random-international.com/self-portrait/
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Description
The Behaviour of Objects is rAndom’s first gallery exhibition in London with Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Mayfair. Exhibiting both ‘Swarm Light’ and ‘Self Portrait‘, the show lays the ground for a significant expansion of the studios’ performative radius.

‘Swarm’ and ‘Self Portrait’, both shown in London for the first time, are works that continue to investigate the role of the viewer in response to very basic yet seemingly natural forms of artificially intelligent environments. rAndoms’ fascination with natural phenomena such as the efficiency and elegance of collective intelligence, or the power of sunlight, are translated into objects that demand the physical presence of the viewer in order to be completed. The show is a milestone in the studio’s collaboration with both the gallery and Incubator, a platform that supports the development of new work.
Keywords
  • genres
    • installations
      • interactive installations
Technology & Material
Interface
Type: light installation Date: July 2010
‚Self Portrait‘ is the archetypal blank canvas. The installation engages you, the spectator, with a large-scale, ephemeral representation of yourself. All evidence of the encounter exists only in the moment of interaction between the viewer and the work. Gradually, moment and image fade away, never to be repeated.

The installation questions both the traditional concept and content of the portrait as preserving memory through image making. Rather, it creates an elusive presence of entropy. A self-portrait now becomes a profoundly self-reflexive experience which then illuminates the poignancy of the lost moment. The piece follows an aesthetic of presence and erasure that rAndom has been developing over time through a variety of Temporary Printing Machine installations. A permanent piece has been installed at the BMW HQ in Munich, and different iterations have been shown in the V&A and Scope Art Fair in Miami Beach in 2006. In 2009, rAndom‘s ‘Study For A Mirror’ was accessioned into the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

‘Self Portrait’ has been developed with the generous support of Incubator, which is an alternative platform to initiate and develop new work. ‘Self Portrait’ is the first in a series of special projects that rAndom and Incubator are working on and was inaugurated at rAndom‘s Designer Of The Future exhibition at Design Miami / Basel 2010
Exhibitions & Events
Decode: Digital Design Sensations
Bibliography
4 publications