Johann Arens – Findings on Palpation (Extended Matter IV) – P/////AKT
23 June – 22 June
Johann Arens
Johann Arens
Opening 23 June, 20-24 hrs
24 June – 22 July 2018
The exhibition features a new film installation resulting from the shared research of Johann Arens and Dr. Alejandro Granados (Research Associate in Biomechanical Engineering at UCL London). It debates the relevance of tactility and contact-based simulation tools and the implications for the plasticity of sculpture as well as human anatomy. The point of departure is the simple observation that both, medical training practice and experientially driven art are conditioned by a shared frustration; the limitation of touch.
The film features two haptic simulation systems; one constructed to allow medics in training to gain experience in patient examination and palpation, the other connecting an historical sculpture to a virtual environment with changed surface resistivity parameters. The increasing relevance of touch-based interfaces for our social environment calls for a critical engagement. The exhibition gauges the significance of computed simulation for cultural artefacts and the intimacy of the audience. What can a heightened awareness of tactility and palpation offer to the principles of contemporary medicine and personalised experience of sculpture?
Johann Arens (b. 1981, Aachen, Germany) uses installation and video to survey the documentary properties of public interiors and their inherent social textures. By deliberately placing artworks atypically he redirects attention to places in the peripheral vision. His sculptures are found embedded in standardised work environments, educational frameworks, community centres, neighbourhood businesses and digital inclusion charities. These site-related interventions are enquiries into the multiple ways novel technologies device our communal life and shape civil behaviour.
The exhibition is realised in collaboration with the AMC medical training centre and generously supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Funds and Ammodo.
The film project was also supported by SPACE Art+Technology Residency Program, Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science, Imperial College London, EPSRC London Deanery and Health Education North West London.
Findings on Palpation is the fourth part of P/////AKT’s 2018 exhibition program Extended Matter.