Nature of Non-Existence

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Gazelli Art House presents Nature of Non-Existence, a new solo exhibition by Recycle Group, the award-winning artist duo known for their pioneering use of technologies from Virtual Reality (VR) to Augmented Reality (AR) throughout their practise. In their new exhibition, the artists unlock a hidden world via the use of an AR app available on the viewer’s mobile devices.

In the words of Recycle Group, 'The main idea behind Nature of Non-Existence is that the visitor can change their perspective to a machine’s eyes and feel how the world is inside the brains of a machine. There are two points of view in the world: a human’s and a machine’s, a perspective that we do not see and doesn’t exist for us. The experience gives the viewer a chance to feel like a machine; not just to see it, but to feel it.'

Recycle Group examines how technology changes society and the looming notion of singularity in these new works. Ray Kurzweil, who coined the term technological singularity, defines it as the time when humans and machines will merge together with AI to reach super-human levels of intelligence. The artists explore on-going questions such as can machines have their own feelings, will they learn to take control of our world and what will happen to the relationship between humans and machines in the future.

As the viewer walks around the exhibition and hovers the Recycle app over the sculptures, the experience unfolds. Without the use of the app, some parts of the exhibition remain restricted from view and these visual limits are confronted by the artists to highlight society’s growing reliance on machines.

The ground floor presents five screens used as light boxes that give off an optical illusion as the viewer moves around them. Upstairs there are a series of black laser cut works on acrylic that mirror human cellular neurons referencing nodes of a Wi-Fi network and synaptic connections.

Recycle Group often merges opposing themes, a continuation of their practice, as in their 57th Venice Biennale installation entitled Blocked Content. This is the fourth solo exhibition in London with past shows including Keep Me Updated your Holiness (2015), I, Cyborg (2016) and Last Space Remaining (2013).

'This timely exhibition provides the viewer with real and augmented visions to behold. Responding to the growing use of big data and artificial intelligence, the artists present new works to question the role of machines and their perspective of our world,' said Mila Askarova, Founding Director of Gazelli Art House.