Lara Reichmann

Disposable Bodies

23/10— 14/12/2024


In the spatial installation Disposable Bodies visual artist Lara Reichmann blends real historical facts and fiction into a narrative about the invisible work of the often overlooked, peripheral actors working behind the progress of technological systems.

The starting point of the project is the phenomenon of the Women Astronomical Computers, a group of mostly anonymous women who combed the night sky layer by layer and mapped and classified stars through photographic glass plates at the Harvard Observatory in the late 19th century. Although the work was extremely exhausting, monotonous and poorly paid, it represented the possibility of the first formal employment of women in the sphere of astronomy, and provided a haven for the development of their interests long before they were equally involved in scientific research. 

The analogous beginnings of computational processes and data analysis by so-called human computers highlights the complex relationship between technology and corporeality. By interweaving the sociological-historical position of the researchers, and the fictional personal story of one of them, Disposable Bodies explores how data has been processed throughout history and how it is interpreted today. By shifting between the roles of observer and active protagonist, it questions who has the power to control the narrative and direct our gaze. 

From the perspective of an observer on the upper floor, the visitor descends the stairs into the story of the anonymous human computer A.H.K, who, through diary entries, describes her work at the observatory, where she tirelessly and conscientiously tirelessly and diligently inspects the glass plates. Day after day into infinity. The installation unfolds through three video chapters that alternately guide and direct us through the deconstructed, blown-up remains of the satellites and gradually entangles the factual documentary perspective in fiction. 

With the increasingly difficult distinction between her own body and the multitude of bodies of other workers, A.H.K. gradually dissolves in countless mathematical calculations, columns and numbers, and continues her work of weaving the threads of the universe in the form of computer software. Through the gradual dissolution of the physical body of the stargazer and its fusion into a computational programme that counts satellites instead of stars, Lara Reichmann tells the story of the passage of a multiplicity of human bodies into a mechanical system of the virtual. This raises the question - is it a melancholic story about the transience of physical bodies, or is it in fact a story about the empowerment of a seemingly insignificant character who takes on the active role of protagonist and directs her own narrative? 

Lara Reichmann (1995) is an artist working in video and animation. Her work is often based on stories of forgotten, erased or indefinable places and characters that dwell on the peripheries of archived history. Her recent projects focus on digital interfaces, glitches and time lapses through which parallel virtual landscapes of satellite imagery are built. She has participated in several group and solo exhibitions, including Aksioma and P74 Gallery in Ljubljana, KGLU in Slovenj Gradec and Centre for Contemporary Arts Celje (SI), Krinzinger Projekte, Parallel in Vienna (AT) and Gallery 707 in Brno (CZ). She has curated several exhibitions, in the organisation of ETC., SCCA, Škuc Gallery and the student pop-up gallery 7:069 in Ljubljana (SI), Gallery Nova - WHW in Zagreb (HR) and the Pita Projekt platform.


Coproduction: Projekt Atol Institute
Animation: Jan Krek and Lara Reichmann
Voice: Jana Renee Wilcoxen
Sound: Gašper Torkar
Music: Jan Bajc Funa 
Technical support: Lovrenc Košenina, Matevž Ftičar, Andraž Šenica Pavletič
Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana.

Thanks: BENKOtehna

PROJECTION STARTING
The multi-channel projection starts every 10 minutes in the upper room and continues at different intervals in the lower two rooms. For a complete experience of the work, we advise you to consider the start time of the projection. 

CURATOR: Lara Mejač


PHOTOGRAPHER: Zupanov







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