British electronic arts duo Gibson and Martelli make live simulations using performance capture, computer generated models and an array of technologies including Virtual Reality (VR). Artworks of infinite duration are built within game engines where surround sound heightens the sense of immersion. They playfully address the position of the self in relation to technology, examining ideas of player, performer and visitor - intertwining familiar tropes of video games and art traditions of figure & landscape.
Experimentation with software characterises the work of the artists, adapting and ‘modding’, creating tightly controlled worlds for people to explore and interact with. They strip away, reconstruct, re-purpose, re-mix and customise the tools of mass entertainment, integral to their contemporary digital craft.
Living and working in London, Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli collaborated as igloo from 1995–2010, their first work together was nominated for a British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) Award. Now known as Gibson/Martelli they recently won the Lumen Prize. They exhibit in galleries, theatres and festivals around the world including Detroit Institute for Art, The Barbican Gallery, International Symposium of Electronic Art, Royal Opera House & the 52nd Venice Biennale. Bruno is a visiting lecturer at AA School of Architecture with The Unknown Fields Division, Slade & Goldsmiths while Ruth is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Dance Research at Coventry University’s School of Art & Design. Their work is included in various private and public collections. Recently they were artists-in-residence at Dartmouth College (Hanover, USA) with a solo exhibition at the Jaffe-Friede Gallery.
