brian conley

 

art33basel statements

fragments

vernissage: 11 june 2002, 6-9p
fair dates: 12 - 17 june 2002, 11-7p daily

 

 

 

 

 

Fragments
viewer activated computer projection, 2002.
Digital master. edition of 5.

above images
top left: drawing of installation, pencil on paper, 11 x 8.5 inches, 2001
top right: installation shot, documentation
bottom: still of Rana/Felis (frog/cat) brain graft

 

project description

This project consists of an incomplete set of elements from a science fiction movie; fragments lost, dispersed, but now found. Unlike earlier science fiction, which attempts to project some utopian or dystopian vision into the future, this movie is from the future and projects into the past to a time that is roughly now. The specific content and narrative of this movie are unknown, except for the available fragments (images, soundtracks and an unusual method of presentation). The movie may possibly be a thought experiment that imagines the production of new forms of intelligence and consciousness, a new future, through the alteration and grafting of animal brains. This movie uses a form of presentation that is not currently in use, one that involves the active interplay of the audience. Instead of sitting in seats and passively watching the movie, the viewers actively construct it through their collective movements which are overseen by a camera focused on them.

The imagery consists of sixteen gray computer models of animal brains, brain parts or brain grafts. These are projected onto a wall, one by one, in large scale. The spectator's movement through the exhibition space triggers which image is projected. When an image is triggered, it begins to spin on a vertical axis and a distinctive recording begins to play, looping continuously until the spectator decides to move. When the spectator moves to another location, the previous image and soundtrack morph into a new image and soundtrack. When there are several spectators, the computer makes a calculation of their collective activity. The soundtracks have a curious relation to the imagery. Some may include recordings of electromagnetic brain activity made from Delgado-like implants. A few seem familiar and may be taken from known science fiction movies. In any case, as a group, they appear to be samples of a continuous soundtrack that sets the tone and mood of the unknown narrative.

Technical Requirements: This piece requires two Mac G4 computers (or one with a dual processor), a video camera, a computer projector and a sound system. The images are projected across a wall, with the rest of the room in dim light. The wall projection is responsive to the viewer's movement through the exhibition space by way of the video camera mounted on the ceiling.

–Brian Conley

 

 

to view
pseudanuran gigantica, art 33 basel, art unlimited
and other work by brian conley

 

 

artist bio

selected projects

2001
Group Show, "BitStreams," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Group Show
"Marks of Omission," Arthouse, Dublin
Solo Show / Residency, ArtPace Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, Texas
Compilation, Audio CD, "BitStreams," JdK Productions, Amsterdam
Installation, Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm
Senior Editor (with Sina Najafi), Cabinet Magazine, issues 2 through 6.

2000
Solo Show, "Xenotransplantation," Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London
Solo Show, "Xenotransplantation," Zinc Gallery, Stockholm
Co-Director and Co-Editor (with Sina Najafi), Immaterial Incorporated, a non-profit organization for art and culture which produces Cabinet a quarterly magazine; a series of audio CD's of sound art; a CD-Rom series of artist projects and cultural issues.
Group Show, "War/Art/New Technologies" exhibition and conference curated by Trebor Scholz, Portland
Compilation, Audio CD, "Architecture of the Incidental" edited by Geoff Dugan, text by Allen Weiss
Video,"WT," Zingmagazine, New York
Group Show, Pierogi Gallery traveling exhibition, Yeurba Buena Center, San Francisco ("Multiple Sensations"); Post Gallery, Los Angeles ("Haulin' Ass, Pierogi in LA"); Block Artspace, Kansas City

1999
Radio Performance, "WAR!" a live interactive performance between New York (WBAI) and Belgrade, Serbia (Radio B2-92), organized with Sina Najafi and Immaterial Incorporated.
Co-Curator (with Sina Najafi), "Heap of Language: Robert Smithson and Poetry" Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, New York
Installation, Stetson University, Florida
Group Show,"Rage for Art," Pierogi 2000 Gallery, New York
Radio Broadcast, French National Radio, "On the State of Experimental Sound Art," edited by Allen Weiss, Paris
Radio Broadcast, Austrian National Radio, "Other Voices: Echoes From a War Zone" curated by Gordon Paunovic of Radio B2-92 Belgrade, Serbia, April 29, 1999, Vienna

1998
Installation, "Wild/Life" curated by Amy Cappellazzo, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina
Editor, "New Splendid III" a compilation of audio art and music
Compilation, audio CD, "Psychogeographical Dip" edited by Geoff Dugan

1997
Sound Installation, American Composers Forum, Sonic Circuits traveling festival.
Installation (co-curated with Joe Amrhein) "Robert Smithson's Dead Tree" Pierogi 2000 Gallery with John Weber Gallery, New York
Editor (with Joe Amrhein), exhibition catalog, "Robert Smithson: a Collection of Writings on the Occasion of the Installation of Dead Tree at Pierogi 2000," New York
Group Show, "2001; Just What Do You Think You're Doing, Dave?" curated by Bruce Pearson, Williamsburg Art Center, New York
Group Show, "Current/Undercurrent," curated by Charlotta Kotik and Joe Amrhein, Brooklyn Museum, New York

1996
Installation, "Kunstart 96," Bochenheimer Depot, Frankfurt, Germany
Group Show, "New York Artists," Galerie Guth & Maas, Reutlingen (Stuttgart), Germany
Radio Performance, "WAR!" interactive broadcast between WKCR (Columbia University Radio) New York and WFMU New Jersey
Installation, "(constriction)" a collective sound installation, Pierogi 2000, New York
Installation, "(constriction," Art Exchange Show, Wall Street, New York
Group Show, curated by David Scher, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York
Group Show, "Fictional Archives - Four Walls," Leung Institute, Oslo, Norway
Group Show, "Dissociationism," Four Walls, New York 1995
Solo Show, "Superior / (Cranial)," Pierogi 2000 Gallery, New York
Group Show, "Multiples," Pierogi 2000, New York


grants and awards

2001 ArtPace Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, Texas
1997 International Art Critics Association/U.S.A., Awarded "Robert Smithson's Dead Tree" one of the best exhibitions in the U.S. for 1996-97
1989 National Endowment for the Arts, Fellowship, New York New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship, New York
1982 University of Minnesota, Fellowship, Philosophy, Minneapolis
1978 Whitney Museum, Helena Rubinstein Grant, Painting, New York
1971-73 National Science Foundation, Research Assistantship, Experimental Psychology, Wash. D.C.

teaching
1999 Parsons School of Design, Graduate Program in Sculpture, New York
1997 University of Pennsylvania, Visiting Lecturer, Graduate Program in Sculpture, Philadelphia
1982-86 Parsons School of Design, Instructor, Theory and Fine Arts, New York
1982-83 New York University, Instructor, Philosophy, New York
1978-81 University of Minnesota, Instructor, Philosophy, Minneapolis

publications
1999 Catalog Essay, "Birth of a Notion?" Kunst Als Teamwork, curator - Marion Piffer-Damiani, Kunsthalle, Vienna
1997 Catalog Introduction and Co-Editor, "Robert Smithson's Dead Tree," Pierogi 2000, New York
1996 Review, "Dissociationism," Zingmagazine, New York
Catalog Essay, Joe Amrhein at Earl McGrath Gallery, New York
"WAR!" WKCR On Air Program Guide, Feb vol xii, No.2, Columbia University, New York
1995 Catalog Essay, David Scher at Pierogi 2000 Gallery, New York
1985 Doctoral Dissertation in Philosophy, "Theories of Pictorial Representation: Nelson Goodman's Relativism and the Similarity Theory," University of Minnesota

education
1975-85 PhD in Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
1979-81 MFA in Sculpture, University of Minnesota, Minnneapolis
1978 Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum, New York
1971-74 BA in Psychology, State University of New York, Binghamton

bibliography
2001 ArtNews, June; Associated Press, Miranda Leitsinger, June; The Wire, Christof Cox, London, June 2000 Time Out, London; New York Arts, Brian Holmes; Henrik Tiselius, Tva utstellningar värda en extra promenad, Östermalm Tidningen, Stockholm; MŒrten Castenfors, Under hajhjärna och i en kulturmotor, Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm; Nils Forsberg, Brian Conley, Nöjes Guiden, 13.05.00, Stockholm; Anders Olofsson, GŒ och Se!, Konsten (www.ao-ordbod.a.se), Stockholm; Daniel Boo, Brian Conley, www.alltomstockholm.se/kultur, Stockholm; Marie Helen Høvik, Brian Conley, www.artaround.se, Stockholm. 1999 Book, Unnatural Horizons, Allen S. Weiss, Princeton Architectural Press, New Jersey. 1998 Catalog, Wild/Life, Amy Cappolozzo curator, Weatherspoon Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina.; Artforum, Frances Richards, February, New York 1997 New York Times, May, Roberta Smith; Catalog, Kunstart 96, Frankfurt; Germany; Printz Magazine, October, Frankfurt, Germany; Frieze Magazine, David A. Greene, London, England; Review Magazine, Matt Freedman, May 15, New York; Time Out, May , New York 1996 Art Press, Paris, France; New York Times, (constriction), Neil Strauss; New York Times Sunday Magazine, Ellen Pall 1993 Catalog, Arc + Film International Festival, Graz, Austria; ArtVoice, vol 4, #23, Nov 1993, Buffalo, New York; 1992 Book, Angry Graphics: Protest Posters of the Reagan Bush Era, edited by Steven Heller and Karrie Jacobs, Gibbs Smith Publishing, Utah; 1980 Christian Science Monitor, Theodore Wolff, Washington, D.C.

panelist, lecturer, visiting artist
1999 Postmasters Gallery, interview/performance with William Pope L., New York
Stetson University, Visiting Artist, Program in Digital Arts, Florida
1998 Brooklyn Museum, Lecturer, New York
Parsons School of Design, Lecturer, Graduate Program in Sculpture, New York
1997 Gasworks Gallery, Panelist, London
Cornerhouse Gallery, Panelist, Manchester, England
1979 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Lecture, Minnesota

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york