A lament for power / [Larry Achiampong & David Blandy].

  • Achiampong, Larry, 1984-
Date:
[2020]
  • Videos
  • Online

Available online

In copyright

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Credit

A lament for power / [Larry Achiampong & David Blandy]. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

"Genetic Automata is a four-part series of video installations. The second, A Lament for Power, investigates how science can be used to understand the world – but also its commercial and political exploitation. Centring on Henrietta Lacks, and the unconsensual use of her 'immortal' cells to make world-changing discoveries such as mapping the human genome and the Polio vaccine, the work questions voices that are erased from society's narratives and in doing so, whose interests are served. Both the first and second parts employ spoken word soundtracks interspersed with imagery drawn from the contemporary video-gaming world, with specific reference to games with dystopian sci-fi narratives that in turn reference DNA ancestry and bio-terrorism."-- Summarised from documentation provided by curator.

"'Genetic Automata' is an ongoing body of video works by artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, exploring race and identity in an age of avatars, videogames and DNA ancestry. The series investigates where deeply ingrained ideas about race come from and the role that science has played in shaping these perceptions."-- From website. https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/ZAW0PxQAACcG-pX8

Publication/Creation

[United Kingdom] : Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, [2020]

Physical description

1 online resource (1 video file (12.14 min.)) : sound, colour

Biographical note

"Larry Achiampong is a British-Ghanaian artist whose projects employ imagery, aural and visual archives, live performance and sound to explore ideas surrounding class, cross-cultural and post-digital identity. These investigations examine constructions of 'the self' by splicing the audible and visual materials of personal and interpersonal archives. David Blandy is a British artist who has established his working practices through a series of investigations into the cultural forces that inform and influence him, ranging from hip hop and soul, to computer games and manga. His works slip between performance and video and explore the sources that provide his (and our own) individualist sense of self. In Larry Achiampong and David Blandy's collaborative practice, they share an interest in popular culture and the post-colonial position. They examine communal and personal heritage, using performance to investigate the self as a fiction, devising alter egos to point at their divided selves."--Summarised from documentation provided by curator, compiled using the artists' websites: https://davidblandy.co.uk/ https://www.larryachiampong.co.uk/

Edition

Edition 2 of 3.

Duration

00:12:14

Copyright note

Larry Achiampong and David Blandy. All rights reserved.

Reference

Wellcome Collection 3288170i

Exhibitions note

A subtitled version was exhibited as part of Genetic Automata held at Wellcome Collection, London, 8 June 2023 - 11 February 2024.

Notes

Commissioned by Art Exchange, University of Essex and supported by Arts Council England.
Title provided by the artists.

Type/Technique

Languages

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