Title: Submission
Artist: Anne de Vries
Year: 2015
Dimensions: Variable
Materials: 4-track audio, video live streams, fiberglass, wood

About:
Inside the first gallery, Submission pulls together threads of the human psyche by exploding the concept of a head into a variety of architectural structures and symbolic representations—paired with the very technologies we use to stimulate thought and communication. Live-streamed screens of global locations transport viewers from the bustling streets of Times Square, New York City to the tranquil stillness of a South American birdwatching site. Time zones shift to accommodate the viewer’s perception of presence.

Each makeshift architectural shelter contains conversations between a mediator—commissioned by the artist—and representatives from a range of disparate global institutions: monasteries, shelters, detention centers, swingers clubs, and meditation retreats. Through interviews that explore each institution’s philosophy and mission, a layered soundscape emerges. The resulting audio simulates overlapping codes, rituals, and beliefs that begin to blend into one unified sonic texture.

Technology assumes an anthropomorphic form, and the dialogue reveals the merging of psychological, institutional, and technological environments. Language fragments into AI-like loops, suggesting the human mind as both subject and extension of the automated tools it creates.

Exhibition views from:
Solo exhibition Submission at Cell Project Space, London
Solo exhibition Public Cortex at Onomatopee, Eindhoven
Hybrid Layers at ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe