Karl Erickson “We Could Be Transcendent Apes”

Field Projects

poster for Karl Erickson “We Could Be Transcendent Apes”

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“While everyone else is spinning madly out of control, he moves effortlessly across the floor, enveloped by a great stillness.”

-Phil Jackson, Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior

We Could Be Transcendent Apes tells a story of personal evolution. It follows the journey of a traveler, a monster sent to earth to destroy the human race. Though he has been programmed for destruction, our hero finds himself pursuing a higher purpose, seeking a soul purified by the movement of the body, a self evolved through communion with the other. In his search for enlightenment, the monster journeys across diverse landscapes and pursues new forms of bodily expression, attempting to purify his soul through dance, movement, and meditation. Seeking the unattainable, he moves forward but never reaches his destination, stuck in a constant state of becoming.

Taking inspiration from sci-fi B-movies and investigating the utopian ideals of rave culture and self-help literature, We Could Be Transcendent Apes explores the human desire for spiritual development and self-improvement with humor and sympathy. The featured videos, short vignettes shown in a loop on two monitors, borrow the formal characteristics of commercials, movie trailers, and title sequences, all formats that build up anticipation rather than satisfying desire. The vignettes follow the activities of the titular transcendent ape as he seeks a higher purpose. Overlapping at random moments, the videos constitute an always shifting, never-ending evolution. Caught up in this loop, the audience accompanies the monster on his journey, experiencing their own becoming in search of a higher truth, a final ending that is always just out of reach. The video works are accompanied by drawings that borrow the aesthetic of rave flyers, a selection of online animated GIFS, and a limited edition zine with illustrations, an interview between Erickson and Esther Ruiz, and writings by Blair Murphy, Ish Klein, and Greg Purcell.

The videos feature artist Jody Wood and music by Todd Carter, Chris Colthart, Kelly Marie Martin, and Karl Erickson. This project was produced partly during residencies at The Arctic Circle Expedition, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space, and Signal Culture.

Karl Erickson is the inaugural Resident Artist at Field Projects. During the summer of 2015 he was an artist in residence at Signal Culture. In 2013 he was an artist in residence at The Arctic Circle and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space on Governor’s Island. Recent exhibitions include “Monotonic Surfaces: An Account of the Arctic Regions” at the Center for Strategic Art and Agriculture, “Andrew Falkowski and Karl Erickson: Architecture and Morality” at the Suburban, Oak Park, IL, and “A Study in Midwestern Appropriation” at the Hyde Park Art Center, curated by Michelle Grabner. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts and BFA from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. He is also a professor of video and digital media in New York.

Media

Schedule

from January 14, 2016 to February 20, 2016

Opening Reception on 2016-01-14 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Karl Erickson

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