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Sk-interfaces
Exploding Borders in Art, Technology and Society
, Wood Street (1st February
– 30th March 2008)
Reviewed by
It was only recently that I found out that FACT was more than just a
cinema/ café to go and see Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut
or eat goats’ cheese paninis. It also has a gallery space, where
at the moment it is presenting sk-interfaces, an exhibition that shows
the work of seventeen artists, each reflecting on the way ‘current
technologies are changing our lives, with an emphasis on the transformation
process itself’.
It was a busy lunchtime and the lobby/café bustled with Liverpool’s
trendy set grabbing lunch or buying their cinema tickets. I was pointed
in the direction of gallery 1, where I walked along a dimly lit corridor,
the bustle of the café and ticket desk fading away behind me. Despite
remaining in the same building it felt like I’d taken a wrong turn
somewhere and found myself in a mad scientist’s lair. The large
room was dark and people were hard to see. An array of scientific glassware
was arranged to create some kind of strange testing apparatus within the
black walls. A cabinet was filled with glass jars, with tattooed skin
inside. A video installation piece played, showing a prosthetic ear being
surgically implanted into someone’s arm.
Feeing very disorientated, and vaguely nauseous left gallery 1 and walked
back into natural daylight. Sk-interfaces is one of the most unusual exhibitions
I have been to, but honestly I couldn’t tell you if it successfully
reflects the way ‘current technologies are changing our lives, with
an emphasis on the transformation process itself’. Despite my lack
of understanding I still thought it was an amazing exhibition, it was
eccentric and peculiar and definitely worth looking at before you buy
your salt and vinegar pop corn and watch the latest indie film.
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