The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The Wanderer's Nightsong II

The Wanderer's Nightsong II
The Wanderer's Nightsong II
The Wanderer’s Nightsong II
Curated and in Collaboration with Ian Dawson

3rd April -10th May 2015
Private View 2nd April 6-9pm

Gavin Turk Neil Gall Kate Atkin Cathy De Monchaux Chris Hawtin

The Wanderer’s Nightsong II; exploring the relationship between artists and new forms of technological representation; who are the new authors and co-authors of art and what are the consequences?

Taking its title from Goethe’s classic eight-line poem scratched into the walls of a mountain lodge on September 7th 1780 (or 1783), the poem describes a progression from mineral through animal to human, of a natural process becoming language. The poems power lies in three simple factual statements followed by an assertion for the future, without the use of simile, metaphor or symbol, the poem is untranslatable. But who is addressing the wanderer? This was the exact question Friedrich Kittler posed in 'Discourse Networks' when revealing how the mechanisms of the development of language are wholly bound within the essence of the poem- the medium itself is very much the message.

The curator/collaborator, Ian Dawson asks similar questions over ideas of technical evolution and translation. For Dawson’s role is not just as curator but extended as technician and collaborator - translating the work of each artist via 3D scanning and printing into copies of themselves- asking questions of mediation, re-mediation, authorship and originality.

This though is more than a show of doubles and doubletakes as each artist and artwork responds to this feedback loop, to consider itself in a new role with algorithmic appropriation and mimesis.

A picnolepticage is upon us, an epileptic condition of consciousness shaped by speed and acceleration. It’s an age of paradoxical vision where the distance in time and space between the image and the event has been closed to a simultaneous capture and broadcast scenario. As the eye absorbs the smartphone image, we are becoming dromomaniac’s as we desert the environment for the virtual. And if we are to believe what we read 3D printing is part of this ubiquitous reality, printed gun, printed house, printed hip-joints and heart valves; part of the ever-accelerating algorithmic potential of computing. A new future is upon us. Of designing and printing our own cutlery for our Sunday roast, of not having to visit Ikea ever again.

Science, medicine and design seems to have many worthy and immediate applications for these technologies but the 3D print technologies have entered visual culture as the personalized kitsch novelty figurine to adorn the top of wedding cakes . And just as the photograph altered our perception of reality to include the blur we have yet to see what the 3D scan and print will do to the art object. What new forms of blindness will they induce?

Here in the Wanderer’s Nightsong II, the work of five artists will begin to dialogue with bastard versions of themselves, to communicate across this space.The final two lines of Goethe's poem are-

Just wait soon,
You will rest too

There is a point in the not too distant future when computational power overtakes that of the human brain, a point when the baton for our evolutionary progress is fully transferred. So perhaps these last two lines signal the demise of humankind and perhaps the question that arises here is who or what is the work being made for anymore.

O’er all the hilltops
Is quiet now,
In all the treetops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The birds are asleep in the trees:
Wait, soon like these
Thou too shalt rest.
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Turk, Gavin
75d01de2-aca3-4f7a-bf11-3b9b68658a36
Atkin, Kate
91c5dfec-d14a-4da7-a4ba-bdf51ea32146
Gall, Neil
5a352dc3-0505-48cb-be01-0de97634b4ec
De Monchaux, Cathy
aa3f9c4a-a8ea-41ad-a15c-d4b9278b3f9c
Hawtin, Chris
a64da9cb-cc31-430d-a373-5f7b39e8470f
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Dawson, Ian
3b598f16-b350-4fbc-89aa-ef92eba6abfa
Turk, Gavin
75d01de2-aca3-4f7a-bf11-3b9b68658a36
Atkin, Kate
91c5dfec-d14a-4da7-a4ba-bdf51ea32146
Gall, Neil
5a352dc3-0505-48cb-be01-0de97634b4ec
De Monchaux, Cathy
aa3f9c4a-a8ea-41ad-a15c-d4b9278b3f9c
Hawtin, Chris
a64da9cb-cc31-430d-a373-5f7b39e8470f

Dawson, Ian, Dawson, Ian, Dawson, Ian, Turk, Gavin, Atkin, Kate, Gall, Neil, De Monchaux, Cathy and Hawtin, Chris (2015) The Wanderer's Nightsong II.

Record type: Art Design Item

Abstract

The Wanderer’s Nightsong II
Curated and in Collaboration with Ian Dawson

3rd April -10th May 2015
Private View 2nd April 6-9pm

Gavin Turk Neil Gall Kate Atkin Cathy De Monchaux Chris Hawtin

The Wanderer’s Nightsong II; exploring the relationship between artists and new forms of technological representation; who are the new authors and co-authors of art and what are the consequences?

Taking its title from Goethe’s classic eight-line poem scratched into the walls of a mountain lodge on September 7th 1780 (or 1783), the poem describes a progression from mineral through animal to human, of a natural process becoming language. The poems power lies in three simple factual statements followed by an assertion for the future, without the use of simile, metaphor or symbol, the poem is untranslatable. But who is addressing the wanderer? This was the exact question Friedrich Kittler posed in 'Discourse Networks' when revealing how the mechanisms of the development of language are wholly bound within the essence of the poem- the medium itself is very much the message.

The curator/collaborator, Ian Dawson asks similar questions over ideas of technical evolution and translation. For Dawson’s role is not just as curator but extended as technician and collaborator - translating the work of each artist via 3D scanning and printing into copies of themselves- asking questions of mediation, re-mediation, authorship and originality.

This though is more than a show of doubles and doubletakes as each artist and artwork responds to this feedback loop, to consider itself in a new role with algorithmic appropriation and mimesis.

A picnolepticage is upon us, an epileptic condition of consciousness shaped by speed and acceleration. It’s an age of paradoxical vision where the distance in time and space between the image and the event has been closed to a simultaneous capture and broadcast scenario. As the eye absorbs the smartphone image, we are becoming dromomaniac’s as we desert the environment for the virtual. And if we are to believe what we read 3D printing is part of this ubiquitous reality, printed gun, printed house, printed hip-joints and heart valves; part of the ever-accelerating algorithmic potential of computing. A new future is upon us. Of designing and printing our own cutlery for our Sunday roast, of not having to visit Ikea ever again.

Science, medicine and design seems to have many worthy and immediate applications for these technologies but the 3D print technologies have entered visual culture as the personalized kitsch novelty figurine to adorn the top of wedding cakes . And just as the photograph altered our perception of reality to include the blur we have yet to see what the 3D scan and print will do to the art object. What new forms of blindness will they induce?

Here in the Wanderer’s Nightsong II, the work of five artists will begin to dialogue with bastard versions of themselves, to communicate across this space.The final two lines of Goethe's poem are-

Just wait soon,
You will rest too

There is a point in the not too distant future when computational power overtakes that of the human brain, a point when the baton for our evolutionary progress is fully transferred. So perhaps these last two lines signal the demise of humankind and perhaps the question that arises here is who or what is the work being made for anymore.

O’er all the hilltops
Is quiet now,
In all the treetops
Hearest thou
Hardly a breath;
The birds are asleep in the trees:
Wait, soon like these
Thou too shalt rest.

Text
The Wanderer's Nightsong II.pdf - Other
Download (30MB)
Image
the wanderer's nightsong II invite_72dpi.jpg - Other
Download (418kB)
Image
TWN_Atkin_Turk_Dawson.jpg - Other
Download (5MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: February 2015
Organisations: Winchester School of Art

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 398301
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/398301
PURE UUID: 5b4a10eb-4840-4b9d-b023-a3ce2a8fecce
ORCID for Ian Dawson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3695-8582
ORCID for Ian Dawson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3695-8582
ORCID for Ian Dawson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3695-8582

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 25 Jul 2016 08:05
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:05

Export record

Contributors

Author: Ian Dawson ORCID iD
Other: Ian Dawson ORCID iD
Curator of an exhibition: Ian Dawson ORCID iD
Artist: Gavin Turk
Artist: Kate Atkin
Artist: Neil Gall
Artist: Cathy De Monchaux
Artist: Chris Hawtin

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×