AL and AL: Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse

About

Curated by Bren O’Callaghan and Sarah Perks, the exhibition is united by three journeys the artists have undertaken with groundbreaking scientists.

The first journey, Icarus at the Edge of Time, is a mesmerising re-imagining of the original myth, where Icarus travels not to the sun but to the edge of a black hole. Made in collaboration with composer Philip Glass and America’s most famous physicist, Professor Brian Greene, this ground-breaking film brings Einstein’s theory of general relativity to visceral life. The exhibition will feature for the first time a triptych installation of the three movements in the gallery, and a live concert hall performance with the BBC Philharmonic.

The second journey, The Creator, sees thinking machines from the future travel back in time in search of their creator Alan Turing, father of the computer age, who sowed the seeds for artificial intelligence. The exhibition includes AL and AL’s original drawings alongside an installation of their Prix du Jury award winning film.

The third journey, The Demiurge, will be the world premiere of the artist’s new work inspired by Francis Crick’s Panspermia theory on the origins of life, and the work of nanobiophysicist Bart Hoogenboom who created the world’s first ‘real’ images of DNA. Starring a mind bending performance of a thousand genetically modified clones by actress Sophie Linfield, The Demiurge travels across the Multiverse to find a cure for death.

The exhibition launches AL and AL’s new publication, Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse, a cosmic travelogue in the artist’s own words and images, featuring essays on the Multiverse by Professor Brian Greene, legendary graphic novelist Grant Morrison and world renowned author and mythographer Marina Warner. Designed by Dan Streat.