21st Century was an exhibition of art, sculpture and
installation that aspired to symbolize the technologically
progressive age we live in.It showcased the work of over ten
artists in a diverse range of media, including fine art and
installation, photography, furniture, music and short film.
The show focussed on art that reflected on contemporary society
and the issues of our time. The futurists at the turn of the last
century propagated a belief in technological progress and the age
of the machine. One hundred years later, such belief has to be qualified
with reference to what is sustainable in terms of the survival of our
planet. Today the concept of open-ended progress is suspect to many and
21st Century sought to address the uncertainty about the future of human civilisation.
The technological boom and the existence of corporate supernationals
are some of the more dominant aspects of society today. The globalized
nature of human relations has prescribed that more than ever before, we
aspire towards a homogenized regime in which one language, identity
and one philosophy are shared. The 21st Century has dawned during an
age of postmodern doubt about our global village and the increasing
proliferation of a world culture in which individual distinction is all but lost.
One of the most disturbing ramifications of technological innovation
is its dehumanising impact on society. The speed at which change occurs
and machines are developed to manage the act of living, suggest a not so
distant future where we may all ultimately be subjected to some form of
coded identity to enhance the functionality of our civilisation. This ominous
prospect is alluded to through the work of Clint Imboden and Kevin Diminyatz.
Imboden's reworked photographs of prison inmates suggested how numerically
attributed identities are integrated into the very fabric of society. Diminyatz's
paintings reflected upon the increasing anonymity we deal with in today's world.
Beautifully crafted works by Elizabeth Scheidl and Johanna St. Clair among others
might have been construed as a metaphor for the increasingly abstracted and
indefinable nature of our own identities. Finally, the emotional angst of
figures and signature knots depicted in Christopher Carter's work provided
a profoundly poetic reference to the shackles of life in the 21st Century.
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