Selfridges Meditates on the Future in New Immersive Group Show
“How might we live? What might we look like? How will we behave? And what might it feel like?”
Following a recent exhibition of work featuring the legendary op-artist Victor Vasarely, Selfridges London is hosting an alluring new show that meditates on the future.
Made in collaboration with Reference Festival and guest curated by Agnes Gryczkowska, SUPERFUTURES brings together artists, brands and thinkers who ruminate on the synthesis of humans and technology in an ever-changing world. As visitors observe each installation, Selfridges prompts the you to think on the following questions: “How might we live? What might we look like? How will we behave? And what might it feel like?”
Mapped across a multi-disciplinary and truly surreal set of work, brands such as GENTLE MONSTER confront the growing field of robotics, such as in The Giant, a nine-foot kinetic face that the eyewear company had made to mimic viewers movements. As if having an ego and life of its own, passersby are forced to confront the marginal gap between dream and reality. “Which do you fear more: a future where technology allows machines to become clones of human life or one where humans are equivalent to automated machines?,” said GENTLE MONSTER in a statement.
Elsewhere, Kuwaiti artist Al Qadiri’s reminds viewers of the detriments of our fossil fuel consumption by taking benzene — a major component in oil, coal and gas production — and reimagining it through inflatable and Murano glass sculptures.
“Boundaries between human and machine, organic and crafted, nature and culture, physical and virtual, young and old are blurred. Established ideals of beauty and body are challenged, and bygone ways of producing, consuming and fuelling are pulled into question,” Gryczkowska added.
SUPERFUTURES is on view at Selfridges London until October 16. For those who can’t make the trip, the department store is hosting a great virtual exhibition here.
For more on art, Erik Parker releases Bullet Proof with AllRightsReserved.
Selfridges London
400 Oxford St,
London W1A 1AB
