I would kill to see this year's Venice Biennale. In particular, Simon Denny's work is on point and I would have loved to see his installation in Marco Polo airport. I'm grateful for Jon Bywater's lecture about 'Secret Power' earlier this semester, which helped us all to understand and appreciate it. Before hearing it get thoroughly unpacked by one of Elam's greatest minds, I couldn't make much sense of it, although this was probably because I hadn't given it much contemplation. It's hard to do so through journals and the internet, when the work is clearly such an immersive, site-specific experience. I envy the full impact that it must have had for the viewers who got to see it in the flesh.
Although I was never very interested in Denny's practice until recently, over the course of this year I have found more and more to like. I think this is largely because my own art has begun to address similar themes and incorporate similar elements - like large technological equipment, and methods of installation that speak for themselves.
His '1000 words' in ArtForum was an interesting read. In it, he talks about the 'opacity and translucency' of digital communication in connection with the layout/design of airport architecture. This is a huge part of my work too - exploring the "transparency" of wider systems that we are subjected to but have little or no control over.
Finding connections between systems and pointing out potential corruption via simple objective presentation, rather than political/subjective - this is exactly the angle I have taken. I'm not sure to what extent this was a direct influence of his work, or whether it would have taken the same course anyway. Considering the acclaim of this particular project of Denny's, my work has definitely been positioned in a sort of dialogue with his, whether I want it to or not.
Either way, thanks Denny. Your art is my art's cool uncle.
