Co-Operation Would Be Highly Appreciated, 2015
The SCAD Museum of Art presents "CO-OPERATION WOULD BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED," the first U.S. exhibition by Turkish duo :mentalKLINIK. As its name suggests, the practice of :mentalKLINIK steers away from the regular, the normal, the sane and the rational. The duo attempts to reveal what our new order looks like: an altered, through-the-looking-glass reality. :mentalKLINIK plays with colorful reflective surfaces, billboard type signs and rhetoric to explore new languages and alternative textures of pleasure. It resists the limitations posed by a singular vocabulary or style, and crafts materials and digital technologies into works that are both aesthetic and experiential.
Transforming the Jewel Boxes into large candy-colored reflective ‘paintings without painting,’ the artists use robotic moving lights, associated with nightclubs and concerts, that are computer programmed into an endless, looping choreography mimicking human interactions — at once playful, flirtatious and alienating. The attempt to replicate body language, sensations and feelings results in a dynamic set of movements, reminiscent of play, and is in contrast to human interaction and interpersonal communication that is increasingly mediated by technology. A soundscape, "FOMO," consists of mobile phone ringtones and alerts and places the spectator into that stand-by mode of attention that we all maintain in relation to our gadgets.
Presented as part of the deFINE ART 2015 program, Feb. 17-19, 2015.