About the works
Recycle Group mark their return to Mayfair with an ambitious and immersive
installation, engaging themes of democracy, agency, and hope. In solo
exhibition Sapient, Recycle Group deliver visions of a utopia conjured by an
eternal AI. Reflecting on the power-imbalances and opacity of current governmental
structures, the artists conceived Sapient, an imagined open-code algorithm combining
the will of the living and the infinite to enact bureaucratic rulings. Supplanting
orthodox government, Sapient would offer a transparent democracy steered by real
people and sustained by post-death data and consciousness uploads to the meta-
world. A continuation of conceptual investigations by Recycle Group – spanning
Venice Biennale and Pompidou interventions – at its core Sapient aims to explore
how technology could improve political fault lines.
Installations spread across two floors open a timely contemplation on the nature of
human and AI relationships. Straddling the organic and online, a forest of expired
links acts as a portal, where all things biotic are given the ability to lead a virtual
existence. Surrounding lightboxes generated by Artificial Intelligence are embedded with Google searches, based on key-words of the future governing order. Upstairs, full
immersion into the virtual world awaits; visitors can recline in armchairs surrounded
by mesh figures set to accompany them on their virtual journey.
The ideals of a utopian republic permeate the space, brought about by the considered
absence of any visual symbols of power. Recycle Group had previously explored ideas
of iconography in 2015’s Conversion, a satellite event for the 56th Venice Biennale
where social media symbols replaced religious imagery. In Sapient, icons are replaced
by a neutral intelligence system, and life after death is achievable via the metaverse. A
new world order is delineated through the use of ‘0’, a universal sign of equality to the
artists, acting as a ‘good-terminator’ and the coordinates for the AI used throughout
this exhibition.
Using the potentialities of the future, Recycle Group not only subvert ideas of
contemporary religion and government, but supplant them entirely.
About The Artist
Formed by Andrey Blokhin (B. 1987) and Georgy Kuznetsov (B. 1985) in 2008,
Recycle Group explores the realm of virtual reality using both recycled imagery
and materials, their work aiming to bridge incompatible subjects such as the
classical with the contemporary.
The artists live and work in Paris. Since 2010, works by the art group have been
showcased on a regular basis in international galleries and various contemporary art
spaces in France, Italy, UK, USA and Belgium. In 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017, the artists
participated in the programme of la Biennale di Venezia. Recycle Group’s large-scale
installation has been featured on international facades, from the Grand Palais to
the London School of Economics. Works by Recycle Group are in public collections,
including LVMH collection, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, National
Museum of Scotland and others.