Slices and Snapshots

Abstract

ANDREW CARNIE SLICES & SNAPSHOTS Andrew Carnie’s slide-dissolve installations tell stories that reflect upon our understanding of the workings of the human body. In a darkened space layered images appear and disappear on suspended screens, the developing display absorbing the viewer into an expanded sense of space and time through the slowly unfolding narratives that evolve before them. Slices & Snapshots is a collection of slide-dissolve works, the core elements of which are pairs of projectors set at opposite ends of a space, each casting sequences of images onto the layers of semi-translucent screens suspended between them. Narratives are created over time through images that surface onto the screens and then dissolve into slides projected from the other side. The sequential nature of Carnie’s work is rooted in his joint fascination with the historically pioneering work of photographer Eadweard Muybridge and in contemporary chronophotography - the use of photographic sequencing in modern scientific analysis. Contemporary science uses chronophotography to develop an understanding of the different biological functions of the body. Photographs, for example, are taken over time using fluorescent proteins, then combined into sequences, creating quick-time movies that act as tools for viewing the developing human form: the cells of the brain moving into their working position or muscle cells viewed ‘swimming’ to prescribed destinations. An understanding of the controls that influence these movements is reached by altering chemical concentrations and observing the diverse results. Modern scientific imaging is effecting how we perceive ourselves and developing new notions of ‘self’ through techniques like MRI and CT scanning, X-rays and Ultrasound. Taking these scientific techniques as a source, I attempt to provide a wider resonance, my work existing in the mediating world of the mind - somewhere between raw scientific data and our condition as human beings. Andrew Carnie 2004 2004 marks the centenary of the death of Eadweard Muybridge. Through his investigations into physical movement, Muybridge is considered one of the earliest scientific photographers as well as a pioneer of modern cinema. With this exhibition Carnie pays homage to the photographer, his life, his times and the compelling imagery he created. A RESEARCH PROJECT FROM THE FACULTY OF ART, DESIGN & MUSIC, KINGSTON UNIVERSITY Artist Biography: Andrew Carnie (b.1957) studied chemistry and painting at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina (USA) then zoology and psychology at Durham University (UK) before completing a Degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College and a Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. Since graduating Andrew has combined his studio based practice with ventures such as the Carnie Chapel Gallery (1986-88) and the Tram Depot Gallery (1994-96), working on various collaborative arts projects, as a consultant for Greater London Arts and a teacher at Winchester School of Art (UK). Recent projects include: Head On (2002) Science Museum/Wellcome Foundation, London - working with neuro-scientists at the Medical Research Centre for Developmental Neurology, Kings College London; Alight at Royal Victoria Dock (2002) - a 50m long multi-media video work, as part of the group No Limits; Embark (2002) Millais Gallery, Southampton - a solo-show of large paintings and travel-works; Disperse (2002) - a work, produced for the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London, looking at how the body might be physically dispersed at the point of death and rendered back into atomic particles; Complex Brain: Spreading Arbor (2003) - a joint project looking at the migration of neurones in the human brain, with neurologists Dr Richard Wingate (Kings College London) and Nick Didovsky (Rocafella University New York) and funded by the Wellcome Trust. His work is represented in collections in England, Germany, and the USA. Eye: Through The Mirror Darkly is a video projection work. The images are projected onto a voile screen in the form of a truncated cone, the smaller part of the cone fixed to the wall the larger circumference floating, perpendicular to the floor, away from the wall and into the gallery. The images consist of a series of stills all based around medical-imaging techniques used in medical science. The work is part of a project I am involved in looking at the ways concept of self have changed through images and ideas spawned by science.

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