 Simon
Biggs
11 July - 10 August 1997
As contemporary art practice moves ceaselessly into the vast and infinitely complex
field of video and computer technology, the McDougall Art Annex takes pleasure in
presenting the work of a leading artist in this area, British-based Simon Biggs. Born in
Adelaide in 1957, but currently living and working in London, Biggs' exhibition has been
made possible with the generous assistance of The Link a programme put in place by the
British Council to celebrate fifty years of association with New Zealand. It is designed
to encourage culturally rewarding relationships between the two countries, exploring a
diversity of endeavours which include science, education and the arts. Biggs is
undertaking a Creative New Zealand funded Artist in Residency at the University of
Canterbury, and will stay in New Zealand for about eight weeks. The Art Annex exhibition
will be a result of the developments made in his work during his time here.
Biggs became involved with art from a young age, holding his first solo exhibition at
the age of 21. He initially began to use computers to assist with painting in 1978, and,
with his father (a computer scientist), developed an early graphics dedicated computer
system in the following year. In 1983, Biggs ceased painting altogether in order to work
solely with computer-based interactive installations. He left Australia for Europe in
1986, where the theme and appearance of his work shifted away from earlier conceptual and
formal concerns with language and control towards more metaphorical, symbolic and poetic
works, often revolving around texts. Biggs continues to use computers and related media as
his primary medium, seeing his work as 'occupying a space somewhere between installation,
interactive theatre, video art and traditional animation, but not belonging to any single'
Biggs' current research involves the development of multi-user interactive systems,
with a focus on the viewer's relationship with both the work itself (which is programmed
to react to any human presence) and with the other visitors in the exhibition space. By
throwing the emphasis back onto the viewer, Biggs creates works that examine identity and
its relationship to the moment. He achieves the `visual sensing' in his installations by
using a live video-feed into a computer, which then generates images and sounds in
relation to what the computer sees. In the Art Annex exhibition, each computer-facilitated
`performance' will be totally subject to the diverse and continually changing conditions
within the gallery space, leaving each new visitor to wonder just what difference their
arrival has made.
This exhibition was held at the Robert McDougall Contemporary Art Annex in the Arts Centre.
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