Alice Anderson: Body Disruptions exhibition

Graduate of École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and London’s Goldsmiths College, Alice Anderson is an artist known for working on various mediums, as well as her involvement in the Postdigital movement. In particular, Anderson’s work is recognised for celebrating humanity in the face of the modern day human’s tendency to be submissive in the face of technology.

Her Body Disruptions exhibition at Mayfair’s Waddington Custot art space embraces just this philosophy. The basis of Anderson’s exhibition stems from the development of technologies designed to improve human capabilities – such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence. In response to this, Anderson aims to celebrate the body’s weaknesses and failures, in order to remind us what it really means to be human.

Part of the Body Disruptions exhibition makes a crayon artwork out of computer symbols such as hashtags. An almost obsessive repetition of these symbols is accompanied by an audio and visual beat, eventually initiating an improvised dance performance based on this pattern.

Interestingly, Anderson has become so immersed in the idea of technology posing challenges rather than benefits to humanity, that she has done an increasing amount of research into the culture of the Indiens Kogi – a community in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This is where individuals celebrate humanity via ancestral rituals – and Anderson has embedded the idea of rituals connecting us to the physical world in the rest of her exhibition.

Body Disruptions in the main gallery space incorporates Anderson’s monolithic sculptures made from copper-coloured wires, with woven patterned surfaces. The exhibition finishes around the idea of ‘Nuhé’, which is the temple and political meeting place of the Indiens Kogi. In Anderson’s exhibition, ‘Nuhé’ is reflected in a performative sculpture, where performers travel around columns with copper-coloured wires. This represents a close connection with a physical object while participating in a communal ritual, giving the group of performers a unique bond they could not have created any other way.

Soak up the art and energising spirit of Mayfair by visiting Alice Anderson’s Body Disruptions exhibition at the Waddington Custot. The exhibition runs until 10 May 2019 and is open Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00 and Saturdays from 10:00 to 16:00.