Ed Atkins’ Performing Avatars–Generative Technology in Contemporary Art–Tate Survey Exhibition

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Episode......................................................................

Contemporary artist Ed Atkins’s survey at Tate Britain is best described as an existential theatre with avatars, CGI, motion capture technology, traditional figural drawing, Unreal Engine, filmed performance, experimental writing and much more. 

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Architect and first-time guest on the podcast, Nick Taylor, and I, get lost, fall into the temporary exhibition through a faulty door, rush through the show to watch the timed film, return a second time because one of us went to Tate Modern first, discuss exhibition-visiting methods, critique wall texts, and reflect upon our own relation with time, narrative, devotion and death.

If you enjoyed the episode, you may enjoy my essays on Substack: ⁠⁠https://joanaprneves.substack.com⁠⁠

Across all technologies, we've asked the same questions: 

…are we spectators or actors? 

…contemplative or engaged? 

…are images and the people in them dead? 

…and if so, why are they moving (both as a verb and an adjective)?

Hailed as a pioneer of digital technology, Ed Atkins' work found its groove in early experiments with video-editing. These quickly migrated into the world of gaming, with its motion capture and CGI animation, and their striking similarity with live performance through timed duration, but with a complicated relation with the physical world and real, fleshy bodies.

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We discuss: #parenting, #audience #engagement, #theatre spaces, fear, #vulnerability, #narrative building, #virtual realities, #self-representation, #identity, spatial dynamics, #modernism, #existentialism, #mortality, #parenthood, #theatre, #experimental film, emotional detachment, #intergenerational connections, #illness, #family dynamics.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Setup

02:31 Memories of Tate Modern

07:07 Pivotal Moments in Ed Atkins' Career

14:03 A Few Points Of Reference For Ed Atkins' Work

18:21 When The Artist Writes Their Own Wall Texts

22:35 Narratives On And Off The Screen(s)

27:17 The Exhibition as Experimental Writing

32:07 Narrative Building in Art Experiences

37:33 Theatre Without Actors

41:03 Self-Representation and Identity in Art

46:19 Spatial Dynamics and Human Scale in Art

53:23 Modernism and Its Absence in the UK

55:31 Life As Utter Devotion, Art As Its Awareness

01:02:36 The Disconnect Between Generatio