“We have a world of pleasures to win and nothing to lose but boredom”

Studio 106 Art Gallery is delighted to announce Deadlock, a new multimedia performative installation by artist group Me and the Machine.

Me and the Machine work ranges from wearable videos to participative cinema screenings, one-to-one performance, immersive dance installations, research projects and an online platform for the anonymous exchange of secrets. Audiences are invited to engage performatively in these unique experiences, being dislocated into hybrid realms, somewhere in between reality and fiction.

Deadlock is an absurd riddle, a never-ending discussion between two contemporary souls, locked between the soft numbness of comfort and their paralyzing fear to escape it, to open the door that keeps them in.

You can hear them, you can see them, you can feel them knocking, remote and actual, asking for your help, but will you be able to help? Do you even want to help?

Deadlock is a new development of Me and the Machine’s Door Project, a series of site-responsive kinetic video installations on the inside of locked doors. Using commonplace audiovisual technology, these sculptural works explore human hesitation, isolation and interconnection in the hyper-networked world, and the illusion of insurmountable physical proximity and impossible intimacy between the individuals, the two humans, on ‘each side of the door’.

Based on a true story – does it ring a bell?

Me and the Machine was initiated by artists Sam Pearson and Clara García Fraile. Their works range from wearable videos to participative cinema screenings, one-to-one performance, immersive dance installations, research projects and an online platform for the anonymous exchange of secrets. They combine innovative uses of everyday audiovisual technology and interactive media with choreographed performance, evocative text and distinctive imagery.

Audiences are invited to engage performatively in these unique experiences, being dislocated into hybrid realms, somewhere in between reality and fiction.
Clara García Fraile and Sam Pearson met while studying Performance and Visual Art at the University of Brighton, where they graduated in 2008 with First Class Honours. Since then, their works have toured Europe and the UK, drawing support from Blast Theory, South East Dance, The Basement and Battersea Arts Centre, amongst other organisations.

The company obtained The Arches Brick Award 2010 in Edinburgh for their “experimental and risk-taking approach”, a nomination for a Total Theatre Award and the ‘Outstanding Artist Award’ and ‘First Prize in Performance’ in the Young Artists Awards 2010 and 2009 of Junta de Castilla y Leon (Spain). They were also selected to be part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2011 and to represent the UK in the Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean 2011.

www.meandthemachine.co.uk

Studio106 Art Gallery is a Not-for-profit organisation that provides a platform to explore, create and present contemporary art and new forms of expression. We focus on researching and developing collaborative processes inherent to art-making and generating dialogues across: generations, cultures, and the relationship between art and the audience. Studio 106 Art Gallery programmes Live Art, exhibitions, screenings, forums, artists’ talks and workshops.

Deadlock is part of Pivotal Shifts, a project supported by The Arts Council England, London.