A Perfect
Sentence Presentations
Recent
25 January - 23 March 2024
KARST
22 George Pl, Stonehouse
Plymouth PL1 3NY
16 March - 24 September 2023
Museum of Making
Silk Mill Lane
Derby DE1 3AF
A Perfect Sentence
Oliver Frank Chanarin
KARST, Plymouth
25 January - 23 March 2024
This new commission, A Perfect Sentence, is premiered in its entirety for the first time at KARST, Plymouth. A Perfect Sentence interrogates the photographic image in the age of the algorithm. At the centre of this installation are two machines made by the artist in collaboration with Tom Cecil and Ruairi Glynn. They continuously hang and rehang framed photographs that are stored in stacks on the gallery floor. Appropriating the language of automation, the machines handle the images according to an inscrutable logic; identifying, sorting, displaying, juxtaposing and storing photographs for the duration of the exhibition.
The archive of images on display, only ever partially seen at any one time, was produced by Chanarin last year while travelling across the United Kingdom. Often finding himself on the margins - from suburban fetish groups, to carnival troupes in community halls, to gender activists protesting in the streets - his analogue camera became a tool for social exchange. Collaborative photoshoots gave way to chance encounters with strangers and friends, missteps and wilful attempts at getting lost in the world. The resulting photographs capture a subjective and intimate record of a nation in transition.
Over 12 months, Chanarin produced over 3000 colour negatives portraying encounters with hundreds of participants, from which he hand-printed unique, C-type prints in the darkroom. Many of the artworks are annotated with handwritten notes on cropping and colour filtration or show gradients of exposure. These interventions on the surface of the images point to a printing process in development, and allude to the mercurial nature of identity and the subjectivity inherent in image making.
Oliver Frank Chanarin, says: There is an uncanny sense that the work is watching us just as much as we are watching it, and it’s not necessarily a good feeling at all. There‘s something about the way the photographs are handled indiscriminately by the machines - the intimately human analogue prints bristle against the brutally mechanistic display. It goes against the grain of the images, and there is a sense that we are entering a factory rather than a gallery. Inevitably we are left to reflect on the life of photographs; the myriad ways in which they circulate and accrue our attention or get ignored, and the hidden forces that shape these experiences.
Oliver Frank Chanarin has built an international reputation for pushing the boundaries of photography, both conceptually and in its practice. This new commission, through its utilisation of analogue hand-printed medium format photography and bespoke robotic machines question the nature and role of photography. A Perfect Sentence asks us to consider who controls our image; how does one capture attention; and who do we see in our hyperconnected, image-prolific digital world?
Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. © Oliver Frank Chanarin. Installation view: KARST, Plymouth, 2024. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and KARST. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Dom Moore.
Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. © Oliver Frank Chanarin. Installation view: KARST, Plymouth, 2024. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and KARST. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Dom Moore.
Oliver Frank Chanarin, A Perfect Sentence, 2024. © Oliver Frank Chanarin. Installation view: KARST, Plymouth, 2024. Commissioned and produced by Forma in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Images courtesy the artist and KARST. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. Photo: Dom Moore.
Ben Borthwick, Head of Creative Programme, KARST says:
It has been a joy for KARST to collaborate with Oliver and Forma on the production and presentation of A Perfect Sentence. We’re thrilled to be part of a nationwide project that engages with Plymouth’s communities, spaces and histories. In 2022 Oliver met and photographed groups and individuals in Plymouth, from navy officers and cadets to skateboarders and sunbathers. A selection of these photographs will be presented alongside images from Oliver’s encounters around the UK. KARST supports artists to experiment and test ideas, so we are really pleased that A Perfect Sentence contributes to Plymouth’s rich history exploring the relationship between art and cybernetics. Throughout the course of the exhibition at KARST, i-DAT (University of Plymouth’s creative technology research collective) will collaborate with Oliver to develop the AI algorithms, making it both an exhibition and a live research project.
Chanarin’s new commission is presented at KARST Plymouth until 23 March 2024. Following the presentation at KARST, A Perfect Sentence will then be a highlight of Images Vevey Biennial, Switzerland in September 2024. Subsequently the exhibition will open at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in November 2024 and National Museum Cardiff in 2025, with additional presentation dates pending.
—
Lead Image: Oliver Frank Chanarin, Untitled, 10 x 8 inches, C-type print, unique artist proof (#1459483022), 2023. Courtesy and © the artist. Commissioned and produced by Forma, in collaboration with eight UK organisations. Supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund and Outset Contemporary Art Fund.
Recent
25 January - 23 March 2024
KARST
22 George Pl, Stonehouse
Plymouth PL1 3NY
16 March - 24 September 2023
Museum of Making
Silk Mill Lane
Derby DE1 3AF