ZOMBIES

About

Zombie : The Walking Dead : Homo Coprophagus Somnambulus : A deceased human being who has partially returned to life due to undeterminable causes. The brain retains base facilities, namely gross motor function. In its near-mindless state, it grasps no remains of emotion, personality, or sensation of pain. In rare cases, some of the reanimated have reflexively preformed routine activities from their past lives.

The rotting bodies of the undead operate on a fraction of the level at which our bodies normally function. Circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems are unaffected by reanimation. Labored breathing, choking, and moaning are reflexive but no oxygen is carried through the blood. The nervous system functions primarily within the brain and brain stem. Sensory reception is minimal at best and seemingly unnecessary in the pursuit of prey. The undead are incapable of fatigue and will persist at any cost. They will even crawl when their legs have been removed. Even if the head is removed from the body, it will continue to live. The only way to stop the reanimated is to destroy the brain. To prevent reanimation in the recently departed, decapitate the corpse and burn the body.

The only observable action a zombie takes part in is killing living creatures, especially humans, and eating them. Many theories and speculations surround this disturbing behavior. One theory is based on the thought that reanimation is the result of a contagious infection or virus, and that the primal drive to feed will spread the disease to other host bodies. Research has shown that although the majority of zombie attacks result in fatal wounds, all corpses return to life soon after passing, regardless of cause of death. Another theory is that zombies eat the brains of the living to refuel the "un-life" giving chemical serotonin. Because digestive and circulatory systems are incapable of bringing these elements to the brain, this just cannot be true. The final speculation seems the most obvious, that the dead feed for sustenance to satiate their unnatural metabolism. But because the gut has no function in the undead, this is also false. One documented encounter claims that a zombie was unable to move due to the sheer mass of undigested flesh resting in its distended gut. The creature continued to eat even after its gut had burst open. Studies regarding the nature of feeding have proven that zombies will try to eat when their stomachs and even jaws have been removed. One explanation offers that the walking dead are the incarnation of death itself, a mockery of life that uses the vessels of the living to carry out their dark intentions, they are the opposite of life and are driven to simply undo it.

"When there's no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth.”

by X__x

Dow Jones Architects was established in 2000 by Alun Jones and Biba Dow. Their wide-ranging body of work has won numerous awards and been published internationally. Dow Jones Architects has developed a reputation for making carefully crafted contemporary architecture that has a strong interest in the relationship between materials and place, and what this might say about culture. They have recently completed the redevelopment of the Garden Museum, Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene, Paddington, and the Maggie’s Centre in Cardiff. They are currently working on Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, a community theatre in Cardiff and a nursery school in Bristol. Their work has taken them as far afield as France, Corfu, Austria and Ethiopia.   

Alasdair Duncan graduated from Goldsmiths BA Fine Art in 1994 and the Royal Academy School in 2007. His practice developed around the question of trying to find ways to make do with what one cannot know, and has shifted from a broad interdisciplinary approach, oriented principally around making signs as stand-ins for what cannot be known, to now being photography based, observing moments of life in public spaces. Duncan is in formation as a Lacanian psychoanalyst, undertaking both institutional work and a private practice, which continues to inform his approach as an artist/photographer. Duncan has shown widely and internationally, as well as having written about art, and organised shows, and is represented by Theodore/Art, Brooklyn, NY.

Machiko Edmondson studied MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 1995. She has shown internationally since, to include shows at Whitechapel Gallery, Victoria Miro Gallery, Galerie Mario Sequeira, Galerie Axel Thieme, Oscar Cruz Gallery, Laurent Delaye, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Centro Brasileiro Britanico Sao Paolo, Art First, Rangers House Museum, Harris Museum. Recent and forthcoming exhibitions include ‘The Collector’s Room (Houdini)’ at JGM Gallery, London (2020); ‘ZOMBIES’ at Peter von Kant, London (2019); ‘Summer Exhibition’, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019); Anachronistic Algorithms For An Apparitional Era’ at Unix Gallery at HighLine Nine, New York (2019); ‘HEADS ROLL’ at Graves Gallery / Museums Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (2018); ‘Summer Exhibition’, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018).

Since the late 1990s, Dan Hays has explored the relationship between the intangible, encoded and instantaneous realm of digital technology, and the physically present, imprecise and time-consuming nature of painting. Often working from low-quality landscape photographs and video stills sourced from the Internet, images are extensively digitally manipulated before being methodically transcribed onto canvas. His paintings present a paradoxical visual realm where shimmering pixels and physical brushstrokes coalesce. Hays studied BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 1990. He won the John Moores painting prize in 1997, and completed a PhD at Kingston University in 2012. He is a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins, Wimbledon, the RCA, and Northampton University. Recent group shows include: ‘ZOMBIES’ at Peter von Kant, London (2019); ‘There’s Something About Painting’ at Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium (2019); ‘Fully Awake 4’ at Edinburgh Art College (2019); ‘In the Future’ at Collyer Bristow Gallery, London (2018); “Is this Planet Earth?” at Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham (2018), touring to Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; ‘Pattern and Decoration – Ornament as Promise’ at Ludvig Forum Aachen, Germany (2018); ‘Seeing Round Corners’ at Turner Contemporary, Margate (2016); A Machine Aesthetic at Gallery North, Newcastle (2013); ‘Film in Space’ at Camden Arts Centre (2012); A Machine Aesthetic at Gallery North, Newcastle (2013). His most recent solo exhibition was ‘The Walk to the Paradise Garden’ at Broadway Gallery, Letchworth Garden City (2017).

Jane Hayes Greenwood (b. 1986, Manchester) obtained her MA in Fine Art (Distinction) from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2015. Immediately following this she was shortlisted for the Catlin Art Prize, 2016. Recent solo exhibitions include: GiG Munich, Munich, Germany (2019); ‘Lead Me Not Into Temptation’, Block 336, London (2017); Her work has featured in numerous group exhibitions internationally and her work was published in the ‘Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting’ (2018), alongside artists such as Lubaina Himid, Rose Wylie and Peter Doig. Alongside her practice, she is the co-founder and Director of Block 336, an artist-run project space, studio provider and UK registered charity located in Brixton, London that has hosted over 33 exhibitions. She teaches part-time on the BA Fine Art course at City & Guilds of London Art School.

Realf Heygate (b. 1994, Leicester) obtained his BA (First  Class Honours) in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in 2017. Recent solo shows include 'Acheiropoieta', Peter von Kant, London (2019). Recent group shows include: 'The Form Springs', Senesi Contemporanea, London (2019); ‘No Motion Occurring’, Shipment, London (2019); ‘Through The Looking Glass’, COB Gallery, London (2018); Elephant X Griffin Art Prize, Elephant West, London (2018); ‘Sense’, Spanish City, Whitley Bay, UK (2018); ‘Extended Call’, Subsidiary Projects, London (2018); FORM, COB Gallery, London (2018);  ‘Woon Foundation Prize’, BALTIC 39, UK (2017); ‘Tempting Fake’, Noble Studios, London (2017); ‘Array’, Art Licks Weekend, London (2017).

Daniel Shanken is an artist from Los Angeles, living and working in Hong Kong and London. He is currently finishing his PhD project entitled "Deep Render," at the Contemporary Art Research Centre at Kingston University and is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong. His work has been shown at venues such as ICA London, Art Basel Hong Kong, Whitechapel Gallery, CCA Glasgow, Nottingham Contemporary, CFCCA Manchester, V Art Center Shanghai, and Kiasma Helsinki.