Artist Statement

Slide sample of human canine hybridoma, drawings on paper.

This installation speaks to the contradiction between scientific ‘reality’ and its expression within popular consciousness. The monstrous kynical cell is reduced to an almost invisible dot, unable to live outside of the supports of the laboratory, preserved dead between glass. While the surrounding drawings, allegories of the ancient kynic, reinforce stereotypes and play with the bombastic representation of human anxieties over scientific interventions. Step right up and see this freak of nature – a totem for renewed kynicism.

• Benjamin Forster (born 1985 Canberra, Australia, lives in Perth) utilises drawing, digital and biological technologies, installation and print in order to trace the boundaries of logic, the function of economy and the role of the artist in art making. Forster’s recent solo exhibitions have been A Luminary Series of Records Played in Parallel, Perth Cultural Centre with Sohan Ariel Hayes (2012) and Rational, CCAS Manuka, Canberra (2010). Forster has also participated in the group exhibitions, NEW13, ACCA, Melbourne (2013), Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2012); Spatial Drawing, VENN Gallery, Perth (2012); and How to talk to a mountain, Paper Mountain, Perth (2012).

Supported by Canberra Contemporary Art Space and Canberra 100.