OTAVIO SCHIPPER

The Game of Life

August 18 - October 7, 2023

KLIK HER FOR TEKST PÅ DANSK

At SPECTA we are very happy to present The Game of Life, a solo exhibition showing new works by Brazilian artist Otavio Schipper. In a new film, Schipper takes us onboard a visual journey in a flow of scientific imagery about our achievements in mapping, exploring, and enhancing biology on a cellular level. Juxtaposing the film, the exhibition shows a series of drawings which playfully explore our psyche and the social dimensions of our lives.

With his film, Otavio Schipper suggests a reflection on the transformative potential of technology, and the ethical considerations of transcending biological limitations. In mesmerizing sequences of visuals on microscopic level, the fluid narrative serves as a catalyst for profound introspection, compelling us to contemplate the boundaries of our own existence and the possibilities that lie on the horizon of human potential.

As a contrast to the film, a series of drawings offer scenes from everyday life. With a skeleton as a reoccurring figure, we reconnect to historic technological achievements such as the railway and the telephone, elements from an analog era, staged in many of the artist’s previous installations in various combinations and contexts. Between the film’s depiction of high-level scientific insights and the ordinary daily life expressed in the drawings, the exhibition seems to point to the delicate balance between extreme progress and preserving essential humanity.

The soundtrack of the film is composed by musician Roberto Schilling and employs repetitive structures and gradual variations reminiscent of minimalist tradition. With a focus on texture and the reiteration of musical elements, the composition invites the viewers to engage with its hypnotic patterns and gradual shifts, like a meditative journey.

The second edition of the booklet The Hermetschloo Papers with selected drawings is published on the occasion of the exhibition. The first edition was published in 2022 for Otavio Schipper’s exhibition Litany for Bubbles at Kunsthalle Winterthur.

SPECTA wishes to thank Thomas Zacharias and Joëlle Menzi for collaborating on re-publishing the booklet.

Otavio Schipper (BR, 1979) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Originally trained as a physicist, the connection between art and science has been a focus throughout Schipper’s artistic oevre. He has exhibited widely across Europe, the US and Brazil, and he has been granted residencies at e.g. CERN in Switzerland and at The Max Planck Institutes in Germany.

Recent solo exhibitions include Litany for Bubbles at Kunsthalle Winterthur in Switzerland (2022), Sleeper at SPECTA (with Andreas Albrectsen, 2019), Golem at SHIN Gallery in New York (2018), Smoking Mirror at Schering Stiftung Project Space in Berlin (2015) and Elevator music / Fahrstuhlmusik at die raum, in Berlin (2014).

Group exhibitions: A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall - An Intersection of Art and Science curated by Lara Pan, Jamestown Arts Centre, Rhode Island, (2023), Pop-up show, Shin Gallery, Seoul (2019), Mirror Images, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2017), Ao Amor do Público, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro (2015), Mirror Images, Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, Berlin (2015).