Venice Biennale 2015 – Final Review
I will end my posts on Michelle and my visits to the Venice Biennale 2015 with the exhibit by Spanish artist, Albert Serra’s films, titled “Singularity,” 2015.
This exhibit was in a warehouse on Isola di San Pietro, one of the many satellite venues for the Biennale. The building was marked by a giant map marker and the doorway was a giant curtain of gold beads, al la 1970’s. Within was a vestibule with explanation and deeper inside was blackness with four film screens that was “Singularity.” The films were about exploring for and excavating gold in mines in third world countries. There were reams of words about how Serra had connected the term Singularity with the theme of mining.
As I explained in Part 1 of this series, video installations are not my bag, so I did not give too much time to the exhibit. However, I was struck by the term Singularity, as it was a new term for me.
“Singularity. The moment when artificial intelligence will surpass human capacity and human control. In mathematics, a singularity describes a point at which a given mathematical object is not defined or “well-behaved,” being, for example, infinite of non-differentiable.” (Chus Martinez, curator) This is also a term in quantum physics, and associated with Black Holes.
With the exponential growth of the power of computers all around us, the concept of singularity is getting farther from science fiction and closer to reality. Films such as “I, Robot,” and “Ex Machina” explore the idea more directly than Serra does. Singularity intrigues me, and I have put it into my mental bank account to gestate. Sometime in the future, I hope to be inspired to a sculpture, a painting, or a series of either that will describe it.
I enjoyed my experience at the Venice Biennale 2015 and was pleased to be able to attend. Spending four days in this beautiful Italian city didn’t hurt, either!
(image above right courtesy integrallife.com)
