Berlin-based New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s work has lengthy explored the tradition of recent expertise and the desires tech entrepreneurs promote us.
Again in 2016, Denny was one of many first artists to have a look at the complicated politics behind blockchain expertise and cryptocurrency. His work has appeared critically on the growth and bust of the NFT (or non-fungible token) as a approach of making possession of digital artwork.
With a nod to the historical past of settler-colonisation of his homeland Aotearoa, Denny’s work exhibits a fascination with the exploitation of recent territories, digital and bodily. And digital areas aren’t the one frontier of curiosity for the world’s tech billionaires – the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have additionally prolonged their curiosity to outer house.
Augmented Actuality view of Optimism in Auckland Artwork Gallery atrium
Picture: provided
Simon Denny’s newest New Zealand fee, Optimism at Auckland Artwork Gallery (on till October) explores the drivers behind the expertise that allows house journey, satellites and speculative curiosity in future house colonies.
Giant hanging sculptures within the gallery’s atrium are 3D printed variations of patent diagrams filed by American New Zealand firm Rocket Lab for rocket engine components. Guests to the gallery can then choose up iPads and see – through augmented actuality – projections onto these sculptures of visualisations of future house colonies.
One among a number of Augmented Actuality views in Optimism
Picture: Simon Denny
A speculative colony additionally options on a particular version cowl of the newest difficulty of journal Artwork Information New Zealand.
Denny continues to exhibit extensively internationally. Presently on in New York are a minimum of three exhibitions.
At artist-run house Dunkunsthalle in New York (in a former Dunkin Donuts), Denny is exhibiting work from his ‘Metaverse Panorama’ sequence, alongside sculptures made utilizing white boards from the Twitter workplace furnishings liquidation sale initiated by Elon Musk.
Simon Denny, ‘Metaverse Panorama 37: The Sandbox LAND (-135, -34)’
2023. Oil on canvas, UV print, Ethereum paper pockets, dynamic ERC-721 NFT
Picture: Nick Ash
At Petzel Gallery, Denny has curated a bunch present, Multi-Person Dungeon (MUD) which takes as its place to begin early kind text-only multiplayer on-line video games that prefigured modern web gaming. He’s additionally, in parallel, at Petzel staging a solo exhibition, Dungeon.
Simon Denny talked to Tradition 101’s Mark Amery about his latest work and pursuits.