[ISEA2013] Artists Statement: Garth Knight, Lian Loke & Louis Pratt — Sleep Economy

Artists Statement

Epoxy resin, steel, foam, graphite, electrical cabling

The idea of sleep as the last refuge from the world is held up for question. Even during sleep, our bodies become resources for the demands of a global networked data economy. The body in sleep is no longer a rest state, but a site of processing and exchange. From its original purpose of physiological recuperation, it has become another processing unit in the relentless cycle of computational production. The body is the next frontier in the recent emergence of citizen science and parallel computing, where citizens donate their spare computer processing time to large-scale science projects requiring massive amounts of computation that can be distributed over a network. But what exactly, are we connecting to?

With a live performance by Lian Loke. Video of the performance at ISEA2013.

dissentienceproject.wordpress.com

  • Garth Knight works with and photographs rope and bodies as sculptural forms, creating allegorical installations that combine Zen concepts and pagan mythology with the traditions of kinbaku bondage. His tableaux of intricate, decorative networks connect ideas of strength and pleasure with those of surrender and abandonment. His installations and performance focus on the ritual of making, becoming an act of meditation and a process leading to illumination. His works have been exhibited widely in Australia and internationally and he has self published several books. He lives and works in Sydney. garthknight.com
  • Lian Loke pursues an interdisciplinary creative practice across performance, installation and technology, with the body as a constant theme. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Design Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney and co-founder of the Pork Collective, a group of artists working in performance installation in festival environments. She is currently training in the Bodyweather system of dance with De Quincey Co and has performed solo works in Platform 1 (2010), Platform 3 (2011) and 6 Women Dance (2013). Recent creative research collaborations include The Black Project and Gold with Dagmar Reinhardt, a series of works exploring new choreographic approaches to the intersection of bodies, computational materials and interactive, spatial environments.
  • Louis Pratt predominantly works as a sculptor using new technologies. He focuses on capturing and manipulating “organic data” (data captured from life), by using laser scanners, software and 3D printer to works. This process started in 2002 with his MF studies at COFA in new technologies for sculpture. In 2005 he built the first open source 3D additive printer in Australia. Most recently his sculptural work Whatever was shown at the Wynne Prize 2012.