ZWRP / ZEITWARP
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE - #9
ART BEATS INSTALLATION
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE - #9
WTF ?
'DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE' is an internationally exhibited multiform series of artworks & artefacts exploring human culture in the machine age set within the context of an entropic universe.
The series includes physical installation, audiovisual digital/video art, PHREAK MUSIC soundscapes, singular objects and limited edition prints.
Since its genesis in 2022 individual works from 'DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE' have been exhibited in Lisbon, San Francisco, Bangkok, Austin and Oakland.
The seven foot high installation exhibited in the window at Art Beats in Saffron Walden is the 9th piece in the series.
INSTALLATION DETAILS
HIGHLIGHT REEL
#9 in a series of unique post-conceptual artworks
Transience, obsolescence, retro-halcyonism vs techno-futurism, contemporary human existence in the machine age, Prometheus, Ozymandias...it's all here.
Internationally exhibited since 2022
'Re-Make / Re-Model' - Created from salvaged & second-hand materials
Multi-layered textured distressed surface with silica, & metallic water-based enamels.
Plinth created from a pair of damaged 1970's B&O Beomaster FM Tuners - includes castor rollers and discrete mood lighting.
Plinth surface finished with 60 carats of diamond dust.
Accompanying series of limited edition 250gsm remix art prints
Order information at the bottom of the page
Installation & delivery included (mainland UK only)
START HERE
BUY THE TICKET -
TAKE THE RIDE
Zeitwarp is a multi-disciplinary creative studio based near Cambridge (UK).
Output includes immersive physical paintings & objects, organic digital art, music/sound/noise, live art / multi-sensory installations, metaverse activations..."and all that other mother jazz".
ZWRP is the in-house 'brand' of physical artefacts - including conceptual 'objects', artistic furniture, paintings and limited edition fine art prints.
"I AIN'T READING ALL THAT"
TL:DR
There is a lot more info & images buried in the expandable dropdowns ( >>>>) & slideshows on this page - including detail on the themes and ideas behind the work, its history and exhibitions, the materials and processes used and the accompanying limited edition remix art prints.
However, in the sparse attention desert of modern life not everyone has the time or inclination for this kind of thing - so through the magic of the interweb you can jump straight down to the purchase info.
DOWN TO ZERO
RE-MAKE / RE-MODEL
This is a deliberate choice that chimes with the themes of both this piece and the wider conceptual ZWRP/Zeitwarp universe:
The heavily worn base mannequin was sourced from a store closure in Manchester.
The 'Electro-Slider' keyboard was extracted from a water-damaged 1970's Godwin home electronic organ and then modified into a cyberpunk 'Key-Tar'.
The plinth is made from a pair of heavily damaged Bang & Olufsen Beomaster 1400 FM stereo receivers - originally designed by Jacob Jensen in the early 1970's.
The textured 'lunar' surface on the units is finished with 60 carats of diamond dust - (a discarded by-product from polishing and cutting.)
The plinth substrate and castors were recovered from a cast-off piece of audiovisual furniture.
The 'Key-Tar' strap is made from an end-of-life ratchet strap.
The other accessories were all either sourced second hand or rescued from landfill.
Distressed mannequin on the studio workbench
Pair of Salvaged / Damaged Bang & Olufsen 1400 Beomaster FM Tuners
Water-damaged 1970's Godwin home electronic organ
Damaged and non-functioning Beomaster 1400's
End-of-life ratchet straps
ROUGH MIX
SURFACE APPEAL
Transience, obsolescence and the tension/disconnect between the past and the future - and its implications on the present - have been key ZWRP / Zeitwarp themes since 2016.
At the same time the sonnet 'Ozymandias' by Shelley has been a motif of some of the work produced in the intervening period - albeit with a futuristic twist. (The transience of statuary is an interesting enough topic on its own - and perhaps encapsulates the entire premise!)
Given the specific conceptual premise of the DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC NOISE series - as a commentary on humanity in the machine age within an only forwards universe - I also wanted the subject to appear 'super human' - both in terms of its comic-book physicality but also in its alien countenance.
Literally 'beyond human'.
Equally it needed to capture the bifurcated longevity of a collision between the past and the future.
OZYMANDIAS REMIXED
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
The installation plinth was created from a pair of heavily damaged Beomaster 1400 FM Tuners. The conceptual premise was a reference to the Ozymandian themes of hegemony, transience and obsolescence - with a nod to retro-halcyonism and the totemic contemporary power of nostalgia.
The veneer finish and solid wood substrate on both units were in a state of significant distress. Consequently the surfaces were rendered with a custom silver/blue 'lunar surface' effect.
Diamond dust felt like a natural choice as a finishing touch.
Diamonds are produced under the (past) effects of time and pressure and are renowned for their (future) endurance and value.
This seemed appropriate given the subject matter.
There is also the matter of perception, attachment, transmission and significance.
The 'dust' is collected during the cutting and polishing process. It is unpolished and rough and yet retains its luminous sparkle. It is literally 'fractional' in value compared to a single cut and polished stone - and yet it is the same elemental material (carbon)..and the 60 carat weight was chosen specifically to be slightly in excess of the famed Pink Panther diamond (at 59.6 carats).
(The capture of carbon within the allotropic diamond structure is also an interesting 'facet' given the underlying themes of the work - but we must stop joining the dots somewhere...)
OZYMANDIAS REMIXED
FUTURE SHOCK
Despite the future-retro /retro-futurist aesthetic, the 'Do Androids' series is firmly situated in the present tense.
Thematically, the headline focus is on the ongoing Promethean dynamic between humanity and technology - particularly with reference to culture in the machine age.
However - both superficially and subtextually - the series is also a commentary on transience, obsolescence and the influence of both a nostalgic past and a utopian/dystopian future on contemporary human existence.
“…that’s the kind of Avant Garde that gets my heart up…”
CLARIAN - Anjunadeep Artist, Tamago Streaming.
NEVER EXPLAIN - PART TWO
HOW DID I GET HERE?
This was the 'Summer of Dall-E 2' and everyone (who had access) was having fun messing around with Open AI's generative graphics tool.
At the same time I was working in the the studio on a new piece that was due to be exhibited at Rare Effect #3 (also in Lisbon) that November. It was another adventure in the reverberations of retrofuturism and halcyonism with a cyberpunk aesthetic.
Although this wasn't the first time that I had been creating on the theme of AI and humanity - "AI vs HUMAN" was projected onto the Berlin skyline in July 2021 - it was first time I was using a mannequin as a 'human replacement' - which seemed to resonate with the themes of the work.
Six weeks later it was being exhibited at Arroz Estúdios and featured in their promotion at the Cais do Sodré metro station in central Lisbon.
It became the first piece in a series called DI$PLACEMENT DISCO - of which Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise is a sub-set of - that dealt specifically with technological displacement and the AI singularity.
A year later I was back in Lisbon talking on a panel about the future of digital culture and specifically music in a post-GPT economy. The streaming platforms were becoming increasingly populated by both bot account "listeners" and generative tracks.
I was reminded of how in 2017 Facebook had abandoned an experimental AI program after - for convenience - two language machines began chatting to each other in a new language that only they understood.
My throwaway response to the next question about 'streamonomics' became the inspiration to a new series of work:
________________________
"That's great...but I guess the question really is...Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise?"
________________________
On Generative AI & Digital Culture - Lisbon 2022
AI vs HUMAN- ZWRP Berlin Projection, July 2021.
Homo Trans-RETRO - Rare Effect #3 - Lisbon, Nov 2022
Homo Trans-RETRO - Refraction Exhibition - Lisbon, Nov 2023
Workshop on Digital Culture & AI/AR - Lisbon Nov 2024
ANOTHER FINE EDITION OF YOU
PRINTS...
& THE REVOLUTION
The prints are single frame transformations selected from a digital video artwork featuring the installation.
Each remix is restricted to a limited edition of 49 signed, stamped, numbered and certificated art prints.
The heavy duty 250gsm prints are available either or framed - in a choice black or white, both with a white mount.
You can order a print though the link at the bottom of this page - or purchase and collect directly from Art Beats. Free delivery to the UK Mainland.
“We were partying hard at the Wilde Möhre Festival near Drebkau in Germany...people danced to the loud and pumping electric music...two pieces of Zeitwarp‘s music note art works were hanging on the wooden walls...majestic and mystically lit up by the flashes of the disco lights and stroboscopes.
Next day, hung over, I bought both paintings...”
'Y.S.' - MUSIC GRAFFITI Owner, Zurich
DISCOGRAPHY
WHO TF?
Output includes immersive physical paintings & objects, organic digital art, music/sound/noise, live art / multi-sensory installations, metaverse activations..."and all that other mother jazz".
ZWRP '21st Century Artefacts' include conceptual 'objects', artistic furniture, paintings and limited edition fine art prints.
ZWRP/Zeitwarp artwork and creations have been exhibited internationally both in physical and digital form in Miami, Lisbon, Berlin, Bangkok, Milan, San Francisco, etc
Other major global art destinations are available...
During a fluctuating and varied career journey, the ideas and output that represent the ZWRP/Zeitwarp concept continued to develop in an inverse relationship with any definition of a conventional vocation or career pathway.
Eventually, it took over completely.
This was probably always going to happen.
________________________
“I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been."
DAVID BOWIE
“My career's, uh, slowed down a little lately."
Dude - THE BIG LEBOWSKI
________________________
If you'd like to know more about either Zeitwarp, ZWRP or myself then there's some more information on the Zeitwarp homepage.
We're no longer active on social media - passive yes...but active?....no. (There are a bunch of good reasons for this.)
The best way to connect is to join The Outer Limits monthly email newsletter which features news of exclusive ZWRP art/objects/merch 'drops', upcoming exhibitions & installations, and news on our Caymana initiative to support and promote grassroots culture.
You can sign up at the bottom of this page - thanks.
'Portrait of the artist'...as a 1980's transhumanist pseudo-CGI analogue/digital cyber-media icon.
Delays possible / Auto-Rewind - Berlin Skyline Projection, July 2021.
'HOMO TRANS-RETRO' - Rare Effect 3 Exhibition, Lisbon, Oct/Nov 2022
CRIME SCENES Installation Exhibition, Cambridge 2019
Two pieces from The NO$TALGIA Show at the Refraction Exhibition, Lisbon, Nov 2023
'G Major V' - MUSIC GRAFFITI, Lisbon, Nov 2022
The NO$TALGIA Show, Video Wall Exhibition, Milan Oct 2023
Do Androids Dream of Artist Ghosts ?
AUTO-REVERSE #16 - Glittering Prize - ZWRP Singularities
INSTANT-STALGIA #2 - The NO$TALGIA Show
MUSIC GRAFFITI - C MINOR II' - Gallery 'Sold' 2023
FREE JAZZ #2 - Displacement Di$co - Bangkok '24
TIME IS RELATIVE
TL:DR
We make art and artistic objects in a broad range of forms that reflect a set of observations & thoughts about contemporary human existence in our wonderful entropic 'only forwards' universe. There's a lot of salvaged audio equipment involved and sometimes a few mannequins - and occasionally both.
We hope you enjoy it.
If that's your sort of thing then it would be great if you could take a look at the work - and maybe sign up for the Outer Limits newsletter at the bottom of the page.
Thanks.
“We were partying hard at the Wilde Möhre Festival near Drebkau in Germany...people danced to the loud and pumping electric music...two pieces of Zeitwarp‘s music note art works were hanging on the wooden walls...majestic and mystically lit up by the flashes of the disco lights and stroboscopes.
Next day, hung over, I bought both paintings...”
'Y.S.' - MUSIC GRAFFITI Owner, Zurich
AUTO-REVERSE #16 - Glittering Prize - ZWRP Singularities
INSTANT-STALGIA #2 - The NO$TALGIA Show
MUSIC GRAFFITI - C MINOR II' - Gallery 'Sold' 2023
FREE JAZZ #2 - Displacement Di$co - Bangkok '24
SHOW US YOUR HOMEWORK
ART SCHOOL
ZWRP SINGULARITIES:
Unique physical display objects representing both the full spectrum of Zeitwarp/ZWRP conceptual themes.
THE NO$TALGIA SHOW:
A long-term series of physical, digital and immersive artworks examining Transience, Obsolescence, Transformation, Retro-Utopianism and the Nostalgia/NO$TALGIA phenomenon. (Also includes 'No$talgia Unwrapped')
MUSIC GRAFFITI:
Physical textured paintings as the genesis node for a sequence of phase-space recursive transformations between Sound & Vision and Physical/Digital forms. Includes Feedback Loops, Phreak Music and Glitch Breaks digital work.
DISPLACEMENT DI$CO:
Humanity in the Machine Age - includes 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Noise' and 'Free Jazz'
THE SIGNIFICANCE PARADE:
Significance > Attachment > Transmission. Digital video collage artworks & Art prints including We are only Human
DIGITAL ART | PHYSICAL PAINTINGS | INSTALLATION
EXHIBIT 'Z'
ZWRP/Zeitwarp artwork and creations have been exhibited internationally both in physical and digital form in Miami, Lisbon, Berlin, Bangkok, Milan, San Francisco, etc
Other major global art destinations are available...
The NO$TALGIA Show, Video Wall Exhibition, Milan Oct 2023
'HOMO TRANS-RETRO' - Rare Effect 3 Exhibition, Lisbon, Oct/Nov 2022
Delays possible / Auto-Rewind - Berlin Skyline Projection, July 2021.
Two pieces from The NO$TALGIA Show at the Refraction Exhibition, Lisbon, Nov 2023
MUSIC GRAFFITI FFR - Rare Effect Exhibition, Arroz Estúdios, Lisbon, May 2021
'G Major V' - MUSIC GRAFFITI, Lisbon, Nov 2022
CRIME SCENES Installation Exhibition, Cambridge 2019
FAST-FORWARD / REWIND - Digital, Physical & Installation, Lisbon May 2021
NEVER EXPLAIN / WTF?
"THAT'S JUST LIKE...
YOUR OPINION MAN"
"Among the themes" of ZWRP artwork are... :-)
If we are going to assign a descriptive label to the work produced by ZWRP/Zeitwarp then the most accurate would be 'Post-Conceptual Garage Art'
(Pretentious?...Moi?)
Essentially, the work is created with intentional meaning. The surface aesthetic and form are signals to draw attention to an examination of the underlying themes.
These themes are interconnected but can best be summarised as two triangular structures:
Transience, Obsolescence and Transformation
Significance, Attachment and Transmission.
(The former generally relates to objects, and the latter to 'subjects' (people) - however there is a crossover duality that also applies when everything aligns perfectly.)
These foundational elements are considered through the lens of the Promethean tension between humanity and technology in an entropic 'only forwards' universe - and within the context of their reverberative effect on culture, society, economics, politics and climate.
Music - and in particular the technology, culture and economy of music - is often the motif to communicate these concepts.
ANTI-SOCIALS ?
SLAVE TO THE 'RITHM
________________________
"Never stop the action, Keep it up, Keep it up"
Slave to the Rhythm - GRACE JONES
"It is the consumer who is consumed...You are the end product."
Television Delivers People
RICHARD SERA
________________________
Yes, social media is pernicious, manipulative, unreliable, addictive etc. Moreover it's also owned by some of the richest narcissists on the planet - ("same as it ever was...")
With the algorithms rewarding engagement and 'time on platform', and in an economy where attention is an almost fundamental requirement, it's easy to become committed to chasing the dopamine dragon in a hamster wheel existence.
Let's face it, it's probably a bad thing
The problem of course is that the vanity metrics of 'social proof' are often the key to external perception and - in the case of artists, bands, businesses, whatever - the literal difference between success and failure.
Well - if you've got this far - then my hope is that you will not judge this 'book' by the quantity of its algorithmic social footprint but instead by the quality of the 'content'.
Which is a long way of saying "I'm not playing any more" - or more specifically...I'm not prioritising Zuck or Elon's game any more.
________________________
"Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows"
Rent - TRAINSPOTTING / BORN SLIPPY
________________________
Our focus will be both on IRL networking and our own platform / newsletter community going forward.
If you would like to keep up with what we are doing - and get access to the monthly ZWRP Drops - then the best thing to do is to subscribe to The Outer Limits monthly newsletter below.
Thanks for listening to my TED talk.
WHERE TO BUY | HOW TO BUY
SHUT UP & TAKE MY MONEY!
The physical installation is available for purchase. The price is £2995. This includes delivery and installation within the mainland UK.
The installation is accompanied by a signed and stamped/sealed ZWRP certificate of authenticity and record of ownership.
The owner of the piece will also receive a pair of framed (or unframed) 'Artist Proof' prints of the remix artworks.
THE OUTER LIMITS
The Outer Limits is a monthly email broadcast from Zeitwarp Studios featuring exclusive artwork releases, news on upcoming exhibitions, installations & other events - plus updates on our Caymana initiative to support/promote grassroots culture.
(Please remember to confirm your subscription in the email that you will receive right after signing up, thanks.)
WHERE TO BUY | HOW TO BUY | WHAT TO BUY
"SHUT UP & TAKE MY MONEY!"
New ZWRP artwork, objects and merch are available in time limited monthly 'ZWRP Drops' to subscribers of the Outer Limits newsletter.
Each monthly drop includes unique original work - such as a 'Singularity' installation object or Music Graffiti painting - along with a set of limited edition prints and/or merch that will only be available for that month and then discontinued.
Sign up below if you would like to know what's coming and get access.
