Isaac Sullivan: UTOPICS 3: Cosmogony, Apocalypse, Utopia Ephemeral spatial intervention

Photo: Isaac Sullivan, Projection for Utopics 3, 2020

Saturday, November 27th, 6.00 - 7.00 pm
St. Matthew's Church (Kulturforum Berlin), Matthäikirchplatz

Q & A Session: 7.00 - 7.30 pm, moderation Verena Voigt M.A.

What does utopia sound like? How do the affective intensities that accompany such speculations relate to other drafts on timelessness such as apocalypse and cosmogony? Utopics 3 is an ephemeral spatial intervention by the artist Isaac Sullivan incorporating text which responds to these questions. Embedded in layers of acoustic and visual decay, these elements combine in the reverberation of past urban and architectural interiors. They play out in manifold, condensed repetitions evoking an intensive examination of progressive, Hegelian and linear conceptions of history.

Utopics is a recursive series that looks critically at site-specificity. It previously appeared in Palazzo Mora, Venice; and Alserkal Avenue, Dubai; and now engages with 2021 Utopia Kulturforum in St. Matthew's Church, Berlin. The project heterotopically folds one space into another using 3D scans, mirrors, projections, organic materials, satellite photography, and audio recording techniques; indexing and mediating their placement in synchronous time.

Isaac Sullivan (b. 1980, US) is Dubai-based artist whose research interests include artificial intelligence, sound art and the problematics of space and place. His exhibitions and performances – which include ECC’s 58th Venice Biennale collateral; 8th Tashkent Biennale; and Beirut Design Week – explore spatial and temporal forms of latency through video, installation and sonic intervention. Sullivan is currently Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Zayed University, Dubai.

Registration is required: kontakt@verena-voigt-pr.de. Utopics 3 will be documented by photographer Roman Mensing. Detailed video transcripts of the intervention will be provided upon request. A discussion with art students from University of Potsdam will take place on November 26th.

The project is funded by the Gesellschaft für zeitgenössische Konzepte e.V.
An exhibition publication is forthcoming in spring 2022.
The event technology was implemented with kind support of GIG Event Technology Berlin.

Further information about Isaac Sullivan:
www.isaac-sullivan.com/utopics

Information about the event:
St. Matthew's Church (Kulturforum Berlin)
Matthäikirchplatz
10785 Berlin (Tiergarten)

Participation in the event is only possible if fully vaccinated or recovered. Please submit a digitally verifiable proof of complete vaccination protection or proof of recovery (both with QR code, digital or printed out on paper), which will be compared with your photo ID. The yellow proof of vaccination is no longer sufficient.

Public transport:
Potsdamer Platz: U2 subway. S-Bahn S1, S2, S25.
Philharmonie: Bus line 200, M 48 and M 85.