Ed Atkins, Us Dead Talk Love, 2012. Installation view at Chisenhale Gallery, London 2012. Courtesy the artist and Cabinet, London. Photo: Andy Keate
Uneasy new work by the CGI pioneer Atkins
Ed Atkins’ first institutional show in Switzerland is part survey, part premiere, showing the new three-channel installation “Ribbons” (2014) alongside video works from the last two years. His unique blend of HD video, super-artificial CGI, staccatoed rhythms and lush, lyrical texts have established him as a standout among his generation, and the new video work offers a meditation on the relations between language and technology in the same complex visual rubric and disruptive audio-spatial construction that have won him critical acclaim.
“Ribbons” plays on large-scale screens visible individually across three spaces but linked through one soundtrack. It’s narrated by the recurring bald, blue-eyed proxy featured in many of Atkins’ pieces; recast as a brute this time, he bears homemade tattoos on his arms, neck and face – the one on his forehead reads ever-varying abuses in mirrored letters. He’s on a drinking binge, and at times we find him literally under the table. The word “Troll” inscribed on his shoulder gives some hint as to the destructive nature of his role, as he blurts out his rage in broken grammar.
Atkins’ work is grounded in text, but it plays out in CG representations made possible with technology emulating the body in movement (for example RealFlow software for hair and liquid). In “Ribbons”, Atkins’ research on tissue tumours, cancer and metastasis takes his occupation with themes including love, death and desire to an uneasy new limit.
Kunsthalle Zurich, Until May 11, 2014
www.kunsthallezurich.ch
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