Gery Georgieva / UWU Channel Radiance
Curated by Julia Greenway
31st January - 14th February
Cubitt Artists
8 Angel Mews
London N1 9HH
Curatorial Statement
Through research into Cubitt’s extensive archive of the organization’s 30-year history, an algorithm was developed from past data sets. Using input materials such as exhibition press releases and artist bios, the algorithm is capable of generating artist names, birth dates, and educational backgrounds alongside exhibition titles and press statements leading up to the year 3000. In the culmination of this research, Gery Georgieva’s UWU Channel Radiance employs the algorithm’s speculative look at Cubitt’s archive in determining her own uncertain future. Requiring human analysis and deconstruction, like all data sets, Georgieva takes on a playful yet cynical expression of the archive. Working within themes of popular culture, folklore, and internet DIY aesthetics, Georgieva critically engages with popular and historical representations of the feminine.
UWU Channel Radiance envelopes Cubitt’s gallery with vibrant curtains and carpet throughout. Softening the gallery’s cold cement floor and stark white walls, Georgieva transforms her venue into a commercialized feminine stage. In entering the exhibition through its curtained doorway, the viewer is met with Full-Bodied Gentle Woman: a silk-stuffed pelvis hanging from bungee cords. Green silk on one side and a collage of 90s female pop icons on the other, Full-Bodied Gentle Woman exhibits Georgieva’s approach to the intersections of feminine iconography. Across the gallery, the exhibition’s seven-screen video installation, Sybil's Noon Shower of Stones, verberates with a kaleidoscope of femme characters and silhouettes.
The central video, commissioned exclusively for this exhibition, sees the artist as a contemporary news-reader. Employing Cubitt’s algorithm as prompt, Georgieva delivers poetic news headlines eliciting an uncertain and dystopic future. Set to a psychedelic and haunting soundtrack consuming the gallery space, Georgieva embodies the inter-dimensional figure of the oracle and brings forward a dark yet satirical series of prophecies.
- Julia Greenway
UWU Channel Radiance is part of the ongoing project Universal Work Unfinished which responds to research conducted by curator Julia Greenway and ongoing conversations with artist Gery Georgieva. The custom algorithm was developed in collaboration with Black Shuck, the UK based co-operative producing digital projects.
This exhibition is generously supported by Arts Council England and presented in partnership with Cubitt Artists and Goldsmiths University of London MFA Curating.
Exhibited Works
Sybil's Noon Shower of Stones, 2020 HD videos (9:55)
Script written in collaboration with Vanessa Onwuemezi
Music by Naima Karlsson
Full-Bodied Gentle Woman, 2020
Silk, polyester, stuffing, bungee cords
Made with Miglena Georgieva
Thank You
Many thanks to Cubitt staff and artists, particularly Lizzy Whirrity, Kadeem Oak and director Amal Khalaf. Thank you to collaborators and supporters Back Lane West, Vanessa Onwuemezi, Naima Karlsson, Dorothy Allen Pickard, Anna Paterson, Chris Kluster Smith, Ben Deakin, Scott Travis, Louis-Jack, and Miglena Georgieva.
Thank you to Arebyte and the Exhibitions Hub at Goldsmiths College for generously loaning the equipment for this exhibition.
Installation images by Damien Griffiths.