#Limits

#Limits

[2021]

Various materials, various sizes

BYPASS – The Emergence of Voices/ Part 1: Skin

Collaboration between Jenny Brockmann (visual arts), Dr. Dusko Ilic (stem cell science at King’s College, London), Dr. Kyra Politt (British Sign Language expertise), Dr. Angela Richards (neuroscience research at Imperial College, London), Linda Rocco (curatorial practice), Victoria Walsh (art and curating, critical practice at Royal College of Art), Prem Gill (biodiversity research), Emilie Giles (visual arts), David Johnson (blind aesthetics).

The discursive performative installation “Jenny Brockmann: #LIMITS” curated by Linda Rocco at the Goethe Institut London refers to the allegory of skin. As the largest and most versatile organ in the human body, the skin acts as a shell delimiting the inside from outside to protect us against environmental influences and maintain homeostasis, our inner balance. “Jenny Brockmann: #LIMITS” will set up a public laboratory in the library and auditorium of Goethe Institut London for four weeks, centered around the interactive sculpture “Seat#12”, discursive materials as well as objects and thought cartographies.

Unfolding through three curated events at Goethe Institut London, “#LIMITS” will look into the properties of skin from a literal and metaphorical point of view, considering processes of regeneration and permeability in relation to digital technologies. Referring to the work of French psychoanalyst Didier Anzieu on body-centred theories and approaches to human subjectivity, “Jenny Brockmann: #LIMITS” refuses binary oppositions of body and mind, inside and outside, perceiving dualities as radically relational and interconnected. Critical to each event, or Entanglements, is the sculptural installation “Seat#12”. Mounted on a single central axis, “#Seat12” is a kinetic sculpture developing from a wood base into 12 aluminium branches, which are 12 seats for people facing each other. Displayed together with discursive objects and cartographies, Brockmann’s situated discussions welcome casual audiences and invited speakers, expanding the artistic process beyond institutional contexts.

As part of the programme, “Entanglement #1: Into Out-of Skin” explores modes of communication as tools for knowledge exchange. “Entanglement #2: Show me your Skin”, is a focus group with students and researchers from different backgrounds coming together in a process of negotiation, participants will tackle notions of opacity in analog and digital media. “Entanglement #3: Artificial Skin Poetics” utilises the dynamic regenerative processes of skin and cells to discuss smart textile applications and machine learning.

Text by Linda Rocco

In collaboration with: Goethe-Institute London.
Funded by Goethe-Institute London and Kunsfonds Foundation.

“#LIMITS” is part of the nomadic project “BYPASS – The Emergence of Voices” curated by Linda Rocco, realized in collaboration with Goethe-Institut and taking place throughout 2021-23 across six different locations in the UK. Existing at the intersection of art, science and research, “BYPASS – The Emergence of Voices” reflects on notions of connectivity from multifaceted perspectives, acting as a catalyst in exploring discourses on transdisciplinarity and collaborative approaches. Within the project the body acts as a metaphor to divide the six interlinked projects into six organs of interest: the skin, the brain, liver, the heart, the lungs, arm and the hand.

Part 1/ Skin: “Jenny Brockmann: #LIMITS”
Part 2/ Liver: “Jenny Brockmann: #ENERGY/STATE/REACTION”
Part 3/ Brain: “Jenny Brockmann: #THOUGHTS”
Part 4/ Heart: “Jenny Brockmann: #LOVE”
Part 5/ Lungs: “Jenny Brockmann: #BREATH”
Part 6/ Hand: “Jenny Brockmann: #TOUCH”