JOHN GERRARD

John Gerrard

[jgerrard]

The Making Of Western Flag The story behind Western Flag - commissioned for C4 to mark Earth Day. Watch on YouTube / Channel 4

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Western Flag is a symbol for climate change and modern society’s dependence on oil. Commissioned by Channel 4, presented in partnership with Somerset House. Watch it live on http://all4.com/westernflag

[jgerrard]

Western Flag Live

A live stream of the flag can be experienced on All 4 at all4.com/westernflag. On Earth Day (22nd April) use your screen, tablet or phone to broadcast the artwork anywhere you choose, stream it in full screen or share it using #westernflag.

www.westernflag.art

[jgerrard]

Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017 depicts the site of the 'Lucas Gusher' - the world's first major oil find - in Spindletop, Texas in 1901, now barren and exhausted. Gerrard has recreated the site as a digital simulation and placed at its centre a flagpole bearing a flag of perpetually-renewing pressurised black smoke. The computer generated Spindletop runs in exact parallel with the real site in Texas throughout the year: the sun rising at the appropriate times and the days getting longer and shorter according to the seasons. The simulation is non-durational (having no beginning or end) and is run live by software that is calculating each frame of the animation in real time as it is needed.  Commissioned by Channel 4 for broadcast April 22nd, Earth Day and presented in partnership with Somerset House. Live presentation at Somerset House, Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, WC2R 1LA London April 20th.  Supported by JJ Charitable Trust, Mark Leonard Trust, Ashden Trust and the Western Flag Supporters Circle

www.westernflag.art

[jgerrard]

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 -- Behind the scenes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsfzNgLx63k&t=35s

[jgerrard]

X. Laevis (Spacelab) 2017

[jgerrard]

Flag (Hudson) 2015 and Flag (Thames) 2016 at Long March Space, Beijing 2017  ‘Marching in Circles’ 4 March - 7 May, 2017 Simulation on LED panel in steel artist’s frame, 50 x 50 x 18 cm 

[jgerrard]

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 at Wellcome Collection, London 2017 ‘Electricity: The Spark of Life’ February 23 – June 25 2017  installed as frameless rear projection.

[jgerrard]

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 is a newly commissioned simulation by Irish artist John Gerrard, which responds to Luigi Galvani’s 18th-century experiments in which he studied the effects of electricity on the amputated legs of dead frogs.

Wellcome’s collection contains all of Galvani’s laboratory equipment from those pioneering tests, alongside a first edition of De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries (Commentary on the effects of electricity on the motion of muscles) in which the scientist published his findings.

In response to this Gerrard has developed a work in which the absent frog takes centre stage. The experiment represented, however, is one that occurred over 200 years after Galvani’s work, during the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. This later experiment established that vertebrates in the form of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) could reproduce in zero gravity – perhaps in anticipation of a future in which sustaining life beyond Earth becomes critical to human survival.

[jgerrard]

Flag (Thames) 2016 midday

[jgerrard]

Flag (Thames) 2016 2016; Simulation; Dimensions variable

Flag (Thames), 2016 simulates a segment of the Thames River near the Palace of Westminster. It is an algorithmic representation. The river colours are digitally recreated, alongside buildings and trees on the riverbanks present as reflections. At the centre of the scene, a gasoline spill is simulated – accurately refracting the light to create a vivid prismatic field, endlessly shifting shape over time. The viewpoint circles this form while the work unfolds over a 365 day solar cycle of night and day. The soft undulation of the waves animates the scene, giving rise to the title of the work.

Flag (Thames) 2016 is the companion of Flag (Hudson) 2015, which portrays a small section of the Hudson River near the Chelsea piers in Manhattan.

[jgerrard]

Flag (Hudson) 2015 midday

[jgerrard]

Flag (Hudson) 2015 2016; Simulation; Dimensions variable

Flag (Hudson), 2015 portrays a small section of the Hudson River near the Chelsea piers in Manhattan. It is an algorithmic representation. The river colours are digitally recreated, alongside buildings and trees on the riverbanks present as reflections. At the centre of the scene, a gasoline spill is simulated – accurately refracting the light to create a vivid prismatic field, endlessly shifting shape over time. The viewpoint circles this form while the work unfolds over a 365 day solar cycle of night and day. The soft undulation of the waves animates the scene, giving rise to the title of the work.

Flag (Hudson), 2015 is the companion of Flag (Thames), 2016, which portrays a segment of the Thames River near the Palace of Westminster.

[jgerrard]

Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada) 2014 at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing 2016 
9 June - 7 August, 2016
 John Gerrard: Power. Play
 Solo Exhibition curated by Philip Tinari

[jgerrard]

Exercise (Dunhuang) 2014 at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing 2016 
9 June - 7 August, 2016
 John Gerrard: Power. Play
 Solo Exhibition curated by Philip Tinari

[jgerrard]

Farm (Pryor Creek, Oklahoma) 2015 at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing 2016
 9 June - 7 August, 2016 John Gerrard: Power. Play

Solo Exhibition curated by Philip Tinari

[jgerrard]

‘Video Can No Longer Be Considered Experimental’ A TateShots just released about the work titled 'Sow Farm (near Libbey, Oklahoma) 2009'. Purchased by Tate with funds provided by The Ampersand Foundation in memory of Michael Stanley 2015.   http://www.tate.org.uk/... An excerpt on instagram is also here: https://www.instagram.com/...

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCVCqbqwSN0)