Žilvinas Kempinas: Kinetic Encounters

The work of New York based Lithuanian artist Žilvinas Kempinas comes to Ikon this season. Featuring a series of installations, the exhibition reflects upon natural phenomena such as light and air, and places an emphasis on the movements and interactions made by visitors and accompanying kinetic pieces. Much of the artist’s work incorporates everyday objects such as unwound videotape – a material that reoccurs throughout his experimental oeuvre.

Themes of movement, kinetic states, and traces of motion are apparent in Kempinas’s practice. This can be seen in a new installation made for Ikon, which features an upside-down video projection of a ride through forested landscape, a mass of tripods painted white and arranged on a high gloss black floor. The striking piece creates a link between the viewers’ movements and formal density, providing participants with a controlled environment that is also disorientating.

A fully illustrated catalogue, including an essay by New York based writer Jessica Holmes accompanies the exhibition. The show is organised in collaboration with Galerija Vartai and is supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.

 Žilvinas Kempinas, until 27 November, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.

For more, visit www.ikon-gallery.org.

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Credits
1. Žilvinas Kempinas, Bearings (2015) (detail). Steel, aluminium, mineral oil, motor, magnets. Courtesy of the artist, Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo and Galerija Vartai, Vilnius.