If you’re into Sci-Fi, then you’ll already get the pun of this perfectly titled exhibition. And more than likely the pun made you stop and read on. But if you’re not, then here’s a quick overview to bring you up to speed: the original text behind the seminal 80’s Sci-Fi masterpiece, Blade Runner, was a novel by Philip K Dick called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a book set in a dystopian future where the earth had been damaged by a nuclear war.
Centred on visuals created and inspired by the artists Edward Hopper and Jean Giraud, Blade Runner’s lasting impact is often referenced more for its stunning neon visuals depicting visions of other worlds than it is for its story; they’re both superb, but the visuals are (‘were’ for its time) highly original and interesting.
So with that background in mind, you may start to get an inkling of what to expect from Newcastle-based artists and researcher David Reynolds and his exhibition at The Auxillary in Middlesbrough this month.
Influenced by Queer Culture and Sci-Fi, Reynolds’ ‘Do Cyborgs Dream…’ is an ambitious solo exhibition of new work spread out across various mediums including animation, digital image-making, sculpture and text in an exploration of themes about Queer World Building and Science Fiction.
Taking inspiration from two principle written sources – Cuban-American cultural theorist José Esteban Muñoz’s ‘Cruising Utopia’ (2009) and French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux’s ‘Science Fiction and Extro Science Fiction’ (2015), as well as the work of Korean-American artist Johanna Hedva – ‘Do Cyborgs…’ is an attempt to assimilate and synthesise these reference points, asking questions about where we’ve come from, where we are and where we might be going. The work also points to methods of Queering historical narratives as well as examining the quotidian underpinnings of a potential Queer future and how we might move past them.
These themes are brought together in work including the image series ‘Familiar New Worlds, his 0 Ball’, a body of new sculptural work, and the animated space opera of ‘Unpronounceable by Humans’.
Reynolds has also produced a new publication to accompany the exhibition which will be available at The Auxiliary, as well as is inviting art lovers down to an artist talk and exhibition walkthrough from 11am on Saturday 12th March.
For further information, head to theauxiliary.co.uk.
