Assembly Point presents ‘System Recovery’, a new body of work by Fran Meana, an exploration of the possibilities that digital tools offer to replicate and reactivate the recent past, embracing the mechanical/technological infrastructure that frames our existence and is redefining the nature of our relationship with work and death.
‘System Recovery’, recruits the help of a neural network — a type of machine learning algorithm — to explore the legacy of proto-think tank El Laboratorio de Formas. The laboratory was established in the early sixties by a pioneering group of Galician artists such us Isaac Díaz Pardo and Luís Seoane. Trained using the writings of a recently deposed and now deceased founder CEO, the algorithm will help Meana navigate the legacy of the organisation. The work reactivates an archive ranging from studies of local Neolithic rock engravings to affordable mass produced objects, using new technologies and rapid prototyping to bring contemporary ideas and life to the company.
Fran Meana (Asturias, ES) is an artist based in London. Recent exhibitions include Generaciones 2018, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES (2018), Tender Buttons, Salón, Madrid, ES (2017), Future Archaeologies, SCAN, London, UK and Laboral, Gijón, ES (both 2016), 1.000 Horsepower, Can Trinxet, Hospitalet, ES (2016), Labour, Motion and Machinery, TENT, Rotterdam, NL (2015), Machines for Hardrock, Avalanche, London, UK (2015) and Percussive Hunter, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, TR (2015). The new body of work in the exhibition is the result of recent research periods at Tabakalera (San Sebastián) and kindly supported by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE).
Photos © Photo courtesy of Fran Meana / Assembly Point
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