[spectre] Exhibition, Monsters of the Id, David Cotterrell, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK Opening 11 Feb (2 - 4pm) - free coach from London

[Helen Sloan]

Dear Spectre

If anyone is in UK on Saturday David Cotterrell's exhibition opens at John
Hansard Gallery, Southampton 2pm - 4pm.
http://www.hansardgallery.org.uk/exhibition/current.html
http://www.cotterrell.com

This exhibition of interactive video works, Monsters of the Id, is a new
body of work, 3 years in development,  based on his residencies in
Afghanistan and research into developing new display technologies (see below
for more info). 

There is also a free coach from London leaving outside Madame Tussauds at
11.45am (opposite Kinetica Art Fair for which people booked for the coach
can get 20% discount on a ticket if they buy in advance for Saturday) and
returning from John Hansard Gallery at 4pm. You will need to book places by
contacting info at hansardgallery.org.uk by 10 February.

Hope to catch up with some of you there.

All the very best
Helen
Helen Sloan
Director
SCAN

David Cotterrell: 
Monsters of the Id 11 February ­ 31 March 2012
John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
   
David Cotterrell's work spans video, audio,interactive media, artificial
intelligence and  hybrid technology. Derived from the artist's  journeys to
Afghanistan, Monsters of the Id tests our expectations of cinematic and
media representation, presenting a series of new works that experiment with
advanced display technologies. The exhibition captures the disorientation of
a civilian observer within a militarised environment.  Upon entering the
gallery, visitors are immersed in a landscape that crosses the physical and
the virtual. The disquieting Observer Effect presents viewers with a
projected image of a distant, self-absorbed population. As audiences remain
within the space, this virtual community grows in number and becomes
distracted by their presence.  Searchlight 2 reveals illusory human shadows
traversing a low platform terrain, suggestive of the desert landscape as
seen by an aerial drone. The unnerving movements of this unidentified
population are  computer-generated and directly mirror the actions seen in
Observer Effect.  Apparent Horizon renders immersive, virtualised vistas of
a desert landscape. As viewers, our role hovers between sublime reverie and
the quiet anxiety between of periods of violence. The exhibition ends with a
final cinematic flourish, enabling visitors to consider their role in the
exhibition and its dialogue of control, observation truth and contradiction.

Monsters of the Id is a John Hansard Gallery exhibition co-curated with
Helen Sloan, SCAN, and is accompanied by a new, fullyillustrated
publication. The development of the exhibition has been supported through
residencies with the Joint Forces Medical Group in Helmand province and
civilian agencies in the northern provinces of Afghanistan enabled by
Wellcome Trust and the RSA, and supported by a Philip Leverhulme Prize for
research, Danielle Arnaud, Sheffield Hallam University, Wellcome Trust and
Arts  Council England.

John Hansard Gallery
 University of Southampton
 Highfield
 Southampton
 SO17  1BJ  
 Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 2158
 info at hansardgallery.org.uk
 http://www.hansardgallery.org.uk/