
Janus Collapse (the juice-box edition)
Adham Faramawy at Bluecoat
Fri 28th Oct 2016 – Sun 22 Jan 2016. Open daily 10am – 6pm. Free.
Bluecoat presents a solo show of new work by Adham Faramawy.
London based, Dubai born artist Adham Faramawy (1981) is interested in the influence of technology on the construction of self and identity. The body is central to his practice and is approached as a primary, sensual site in which gender and sexuality are fluid.
Faramawy’s career to date spans moving image, sculpture, installation and print. At Bluecoat, his first exhibition in a major UK public institution, the artist presents a new sculptural installation as the setting for LCD screens depicting unsettling performances to camera.
These compelling moving image works co-opt the special effects used in advertising to evoke desire for people, things and experiences. The artist combines these seductive devices of brilliance, slipperiness and morphing with the transgressive aesthetics of ‘body horror’. Specific influences include Manga such as Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988), Cronenberg’s cult classic Videodrome (1983) and Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis science fiction trilogy. Janus Collapse (the juice-box edition) presents our contemporary reality as one in flux, shifting between the absurd and grotesque.
Adham Faramawy’s Janus Collapse (the juice-box edition) is presented alongside Keith Piper’s Unearthing the Banker’s Bones in partnership with Iniva and Arts Council Collection.