Dries Van Noten final show, 2014
This week on the blog we visited Bex & Arts, a Contemporary Sculpture Triennal in Switzerland; saw Bertrand Bonello at Centre Pompidou; passed by Peter Lindbergh at Gagosian Paris and Yoko Uhoda Gallery in Liège to see a show curated by Christophe Daviet-Thery; and finally ended with Neïl Beloufa at ICA in London.
In this first UK institutional exhibition of Neïl Beloufa’s work, the ICA show a selection of his latest works on film alongside recent sculptural works across the Lower Gallery and Theatre. These explore the representation of digital information systems and the often conflicting desires for openly available information within mass media. They are exhibited in specifically designed architectural installations where certain aspects of the images are able to be manipulated and fragmented throughout layers of screens within space.
Installation view of Neïl Beloufa: Counting on People. Photo: Mark Blower
Within the Lower Gallery, audiences will be met by a series of new sculptures and fragmented and live video works. Beloufa seeks to further break the conventional relationship with the screen, reorienting the way the audience relates to the imaginary constructs of a digital realm and the real world. The installation premiers two new films: Data for Desire (2014) seeks to explore and predict via mathematical systems the personality traits and actions of a group of people within a constructed environment, and VENGEANCE (2014) documents the artist’s engagement with a group of youths who directed and developed the film’s narrative. Both of these new works construct situations and scenarios to make powerful statements about the complexities of human interaction and how we choose to interpret the world.
Installation view of Neïl Beloufa: Counting on People. Photo: Mark Blower
In the theatre Beloufa presents the film La domination du monde (World Domination, 2012), which was originally made for his exhibition at the Palais du Tokyo. This features alongside Home is Whenever I’m with You (2014) a new film co-commissioned by the ICA, London and The Banff Centre, Canada. The film illustrates how we choose to communicate via social media and engage with information and new forms of moving imagery since the advent of the internet and its relationship with the viewer.
Installation view of Neïl Beloufa: Counting on People. Photo: Mark Blower
24 Sep 2014 – 16 Nov 2014
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH