Gina Czarnecki
The Bluecoat, Liverpool
December 9, 2011 - February 19, 2012
A retrospective exhibition by new media artist Gina Czarnecki including new commissions and other works being shown in the UK for the first time. Czarnecki’s work is influenced by the arena of biomedical science and it explores notions of belief and thresholds of perception. Her works raise significant questions about developments in the ‘life’ sciences and changes in culture, society and language.
Over the last three decades Czarnecki has worked in collaboration with biotechnologists, computer programmers, dancers and sound artists. She specializes in advanced technologies and elaborately orchestrates sounds, visuals and physical materials. Through sampling, generating and re-processing images and sound, Czarnecki transforms gallery spaces to create unique, immersive experiences.
The exhibition featured several film installations including the UK premiere of Contagion, a large-scale, interactive work that explores parallels between biological infection and the spread of information, knowledge, rumor and myth. Another film Infected posed questions about the physical body in the context of future technological possibilities seen through dance and manipulation.
Significantly, the exhibition introduced Czarnecki’s latest works. Wasted is a series of sculptures that explore the use of human tissue in art, the life-giving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts and their relationship to myths and history. The works draw attention to timely concerns such as stem cell research and issues surrounding the process of informed consent. Commissioned by the Bluecoat, Palaces is a resin sculpture and participatory artwork made from thousands of milk teeth donated by children and their parents from around the UK. Additional funds for its research and production were generously provided by Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust. Palaces toured to the Science Museum, Imperial College London, and the Centre of the Cell, London in 2012, and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry in 2013.
Installation images by Jon Barraclough
