As We May Think: Feedforward

2018.12.21-2019.03.10

Introduction

“Consider a future device … in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

——Vannevar Bush

In the summer of 1945, the American engineer Vannevar Bush published an essay in the Boston-based journal The Atlantic. Titled “As We May Think,” the paper imagined a universal communications apparatus which anticipated the advent of an information society. Over the last three-quarters of a century, what was then pondered by an insightful individual, who was able to think beyond the limits of his time, has materialized itself as a new world order in which the once dreamed-up Memex has not only taken on a much more powerful incarnation but also evolved, multiplied and accelerated into a pervasive, all-encompassing membrane of connected machines that operate on a planetary scale, giving rise to the unprecedented transformations that have forever redefined contemporary notions of work and play, politics, economics, and culture, or life as a whole. Today with Moore’s law seeing no sign of slowing down and technological breakthroughs accelerating each passing day, along with the irrevocable encroachment of the Anthropocene, what can yet be thought of by human ingenuity and what is yet to be imagined through human fantasy demand a thinking beyond the very capacity of human herself. Future looms large with the indelible force of feedforward. Invoking a cybernetics parlance of proactive control mechanism capable of pre-emptive sentience, feedforward insinuates a new type of perceptual domain, re-calibrating our sensorium: “In this new world networked computation senses, tracks, and records the present in order to predict and shape the future in large part independently from human action.” (Mark B. Hansen) What were once attributes of the biological are now given away to technologically mediated senses that invariably transpose, augment and dislocate the biotically delineated sense faculties, preordaining a destiny outside of human volition, problematizing the ethical-aesthetic norms and prompting anxiety and insecurity. As existence has become a paradox of the aleatory and the liminal ingrained at the same time with the anticipatory and the predestined, a new reality descends in which inherited wisdom no longer suffices.

Titled As We May Think, Feedforward, extending this seminal text’s far-reaching ramifications into the artistic domain as a way to reflect on the trajectories of technological advances and their reverberations throughout the social sphere over the past decades, the 6th edition of Guangzhou Triennial seeks to address the multiple implications engendered by such a technologically constructed time-space - in the real and through the virtual - by examining creative endeavors both from geographical purviews and from cosmic prospects in responding to the challenges and opportunities at stake and to think, once again, through a new alliance of visions by humans and nonhumans alike, machines and flesh with equal footing, organic and inorganic hand in hand, an alternative outlook for a new possibility of ecology whereby a retooled humanism may thrive in a Parliament of Things (to borrow a term from Bruno Latour) in symbiosis and reciprocity.

The Triennial Theme Exhibition is organized in three parts each addressing a particular focus in question. Together they weave a web of interconnected entry points and exits, underlining a network of facticity and speculations that encapsulate the world as we know it now through imaginative impulse and as we may think it once again by an unfettered vision to grasp a fleeting future.

As an integral part of the Triennial, Box Art Museum is home to a representative body of work, ranging from spectacular assemblage to meditative installations that encapsulate the spirit of the theme exhibition, extending the artistic vision to embrace the local community.

Curators: Angelique Spaninks, ZHANG Ga, Philipp Ziegler

artist

Dorian Gaudin

Artist

Born 1986 in Paris, now lives and works in New York.

Solo Exhibitions
2019
(upcoming) Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
(upcoming) Galerie Pact, Paris, France
2018
The coffee cup spring, Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York, USA
2017
Dirty Hands On, DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin, Germany (cat.)
2016
Rites and Aftermath, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (cat.)
UNTITLEDS (dual-artist exhibition with Martin Roth), DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin,   Germany
Second Offense, Galerie Pact, Paris, France
Jettison Parkway, Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
(upcoming) Greater Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
(Upcoming) Machines are not alone, Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Croatia
(Upcoming) Guangzhou Triennial, China
Liquid Dreams, Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
New Lights, Galerie Francois Leage, Paris, France
2017
Que la famille (dual-artist exhibition with Justin Meekel), Galerie Pact, Paris, France
Singing Stones, presented by Palais de Tokyo / Institut Français, DuSable Museum of African   American History, Chicago, USA
What’s Up New York, curated by Lawrence Van Hagen, LVH Art, New York, USA

2016
Rebranding Floes, Galerie Jérôme Pauchant, Paris, France
Your memories is our future, Palais de Tokyo, Zurich, Switzerland
Rebranding floes, Galerie Jérôme Pauchant, Paris, France

2015
C’est la vie ?, Occidental Temporary Curated by Neil Beloufa, Villejuif, France
Board Robots, 505 Johnson Ave, Brooklyn, USA

2014
For Cowgirl, Window project, Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York, USA
Démocratie, curated by Edouard Montassut, Tripode, Nantes, France
Derrière, après les chutes, CLEARING, Brussels, Belgium
2013
Always yours, Des objet manques, Des monuments, Balice Hertling, Paris, France
Dés-orienté(s), ISELP, Brussels, Belgium
Soirée muette – Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2012
MIRACLES: 7 Reboots, DUMBO Arts Center, Brooklyn, USA

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Tomás Saraceno

Artist

1973 Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
Lives and works in and beyond the planet Earth.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018
Albedo, Pinksummer Contemporary Art, Genoa, Italy.
Solar Rhythms, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, USA.
A Thermodynamic Imaginary, MAAT, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal.
2017
Gravitational Waves, Z33, Genk, Belgium. Curated by Jan Boelen.
Entangled Orbits, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, USA. Curated by Kristen Hileman.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
Liquid City, Triennale Bruges, Belgium.
Floating Utopias. NGBK, Berlin, Germany.
2017
Winter Journey, Jardins du Château de Versailles, France. Curated by Palais de Tokyo.
Into the Cosmos, MAXXI, Rome, Italy. Curated by Hou Hanru.
Floating Worlds, Lyon Biennale for Contemporary Art, France. Curated by Emma Lavigne.

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Ief Spincemaille

Artist

Ief Spincemaille is a Belgian artist whose journey spans visual art, design and performance. His art always stems from a childlike curiosity about simple phenomena.

Solo Exhibitions
2018 Pinsart Gallery, Bruges. Belgium.
2009 Everything is art now, except you. You are only watching. De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL).

Selected Group Exhibitions
2017
Werktank Showcase. Paris (France).
There is the sun @ Cumulus 2016 Hong Kong Design institute, Hong Kong (China).
ILLUSION - Moving space / Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig (Germany).
2014
Contemporary Art Ruhr/PACT Zollverein, Essen (Germany).
There is the sun. Ars Electronica, Linz (Austria).
2013
Museum M, Leuven (Belgium).
STRP festival, Eindhoven (Netherlands).
2011
Ismar@Shift, Basel (Switserland).

Prices

Honorary mention There is the sun, Ars electronica, Linz (Germany).

Henry Van de Velde Awards, There is the sun, Brussels. (Belgium).

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Jiang Zhuyun

Artist

Jiang Zhuyun born in 1984, lives and works in Hangzhou,China. As an artist, Jiang's works takes on multiple forms such as installation, animation, drawing, experimental music, sound art and AudioVisual pieces. Now he teaches artistic programing and sound basic tech theory at SIMA, China Academy of Art.

Solo Exhibitons

2018 If the End Precedes the Beginning，Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing

2017 Survival in System，West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai

2016 I Talk to The Wind，Hunsand Space, Beijing

2015 Letters，Earport, Duisburg

2015 AT Lab : Pass Word Project，Hunsand Space, Beijing

Selected Group Exhibitons

2018
Taking December 12 As A Reason，Imagokinetics, Hangzhou

Stop Making Sense，Hunsand Space, Beijing

Presence，China Academy of Art, Hangzhou

Art Patrons，Qiao Space, Shanghai

Concepts of Visual Poetry，Palais Bellevue #2, Kassel

2017
Bad New Days Ahead，TAIKANG Space, Beijing

The Den，Martin Goya Business, Hangzhou

Guangzhou Image Triennial: Simultaneous Eidos，Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou

Shared Vision，Art Sanya, Sanya

Bunker Dialogue，Bunker Space, Beijing

Moments and More，OCAT, Shanghai

2016
Drug, Change and Breath，Hunsand Sapce, Beijing

MIC / MAC，A2Z, Paris

2015
Meme City，China Academy of Art, Hangzhou

Perhaps，Ren Space, Shanghai

No.0 Be Yourself Festival，JNBY HQ, Hangzhou

2014
Revolutions Per Minute: Sound Art China，Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre,HongKong

2013
West Bund 2013: A Biennal Of Architectural and Contemporary Art，Shanghai

2012
Problems Live，Kogo, Hangzhou

2011
Little Movements，OCAT, Shenzhen

Fuzzy Parameters，Taopu M50, Shanghai

2008
Sound is true，UC Berkeley, US

2007
Pierre Huber Creation Prize Nominees Exhibition，Bizart,Shanghai

2006
"It's all right" Contemporary Art Exhibition，HuqingYutang Chinese medicinal herbs Museum, Hangzhou

ShangHai Biennial International student exhibition，ShangHai Sculpture Space,Shanghai

"1/9" Young Artists Exhibition,Bizart, Shanghai

2005
"Sound Imagination" Sound Installation Exhibition,China Academy of Art, Hangzhou

2004
"Scrambled Code" Young Artists Exhibition,MoMA, Hangzhou Normal Art Institute

"Fruit Knife" Young Artists Exhibition,Bizart, Shanghai

Honor

2017 Finalist For The 5th Huayu Youth Award.

2011 Pendular Project , The second TASML/DSML Artist Residence Award. Residence in Hexgram Lab, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

2007 Soundrug Chest , the Pierre Huber New Media Art Creation second Prize.

2006 Sound Scale , second prize from shanghai biennial international student exhibition.

2005 Sound of Temperature , won first prize from competition of new media art in China academy of art new media department.

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Liu Jiayu

Artist

Born in 1990 in Liaoning, China, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2014. He lives and works in Beijing and London.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2018

Lexus "Tiangong Kaiwu" Art Exhibition, Baolong Art Museum, Shanghai

Mo&Co Garage 3000 AW,IFS,Chengdu
3th LEXUS Art of Takumi Exhibition,Power long museum,Shanghai.
The power of women,Chao art center,Beijing
Future Folding new media art exhibition,Jinji Lake museum ,Suzhou

Moon On the Sea Public Art Exhibition, Xiamen

Lexus "Tiangong Kaiwu" Art Exhibition, Guli, Chengdu

Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition,York art museum,York
"Li Yuchun"Wet Market,Happy Recipe,Taikoo Hui,Shanghai

2017

Awakening of the Five Senses, Gree Art Museum, Zhuhai

Diaoyu Island Hechuan New Media Art Festival, Chongqing Hechuan

The Riverside Festival, Watermans Arts Centre, London, UK

The Ecstasy of Time, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen

Visions of the Future, ZIP, Today Art Museum, Beijing

10th London Dynamic Expo, Ugly Duck, London, UK

2016
Lumiere China , Shanghai Hall of Moon， Shanghai Art Sanya Festival ， Public Art Exhibition ， Sanya
2015
The Ballad of Generation Y Exhibition,OCAT Shanghai,Shanghai

IMPACT 9 International Print Biennale, Renke Gallery, Hangzhou

1st 798 New Media Light Festival,798 Art Square,Beijing
CAFA 2nd Future Exhibition， K11Art space,Hongkong
2014

CAFAM Future Exhibition -- Maker, CAFAM Art Museum, Beijing

Digital Applied Art Group Exhibition, Adelaide Hall, Toronto, Canada

ARTCube Installation, Second Home Gallery, London, UK

Royal Academy of Art Graduation Exhibition, Hackney Gallery, London, UK

AW 2014, London Fashion Scout, London, UK

Digital Future, Sackler Gallery V&A, London, UK

2013

London City Festival, Battersea Park, London, UK

Digital City, Digital City -- Data Visualization, Sackler Gallery V&A, London, UK

London Design Festival, Helen Hamlyn Centre, London, UK

Award

2018 Aesthetica Art Prize shortlisted.'Ocean Wave'

2017 Lumen Prize Long listed.'Ocean Wave'

2014 Applied Arts Student Awards winner.'Bubble Transfer'

2013 London Urban Prototype Festival winner.'Blackberry culture face ‘X’Voice'

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As We May Think: Feedforward

Introduction

artist

Dorian Gaudin

Tomás Saraceno

Ief Spincemaille

Jiang Zhuyun

Liu Jiayu

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