A new Berlin show explores the relationship between technology and art. “Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens” at Sprüth Magers, curated by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen/ Goodroom, opens up a wide range of questions about the subjects and that their influence is on the subconscious mind.In the forefront of the exhibition is Stan VanDerBeek, an American filmmaker and video artist. His works from the 1960s and 1970s represent an early experimentation with computer-generated art. “Poemfield No. 1” (1967, 16 mm film transferred to HD video) transforms the traditional poetry form into an abstract mosaic of words and pulsating colors. Words signifying anthropocentric concepts such as “life” and “you” are rendered abstract and alien, disintegrating on the screen.While technology is rendering our everyday life increasingly more abstract and less physical, the distinction between human and non-human entities becomes more and more blurred. The titular “Screens” not only can dream, they can create. The pristine quality of Jon Rafman’s “Alien Letter Statuario” (2015, CNC routed marble) gives the impression that the work was produced without the participation of a human agent.Cinematic, computer and other types of screens have become synonymous with a gateway into the surreal world of dreams. The cryptic symbols represented in Theodora Allen’s paintings, such as “The True Believer, No. 4” (2015, oil on linen) produce an uncanny effect, as the message they communicate remains illegible.“Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens” suggests a collapse of a distinction between the body (with the screen treated as a technological extension of the body) and the mind. The variety of works featured at the exhibition point to the continuous interest in the machines and the subconscious, which can be traced across the various art movements of the last and current century.“Dreaming Mirrors Dreaming Screens” runs at Sprüth Magers, Oranienburger Straße 18, 10178 Berlin through 02 April, 2016.
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