X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 is a newly commissioned simulation by Irish artist John Gerrard, which responds to Luigi Galvani’s 18th-century experiments in which he studied the effects of electricity on the amputated legs of dead frogs.
Wellcome’s collection contains all of Galvani’s laboratory equipment from those pioneering tests, alongside a first edition of De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries (Commentary on the effects of electricity on the motion of muscles) in which the scientist published his findings.
In response to this Gerrard has developed a work in which the absent frog takes centre stage. The experiment represented, however, is one that occurred over 200 years after Galvani’s work, during the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. This later experiment established that vertebrates in the form of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) could reproduce in zero gravity – perhaps in anticipation of a future in which sustaining life beyond Earth becomes critical to human survival.
Producer: Werner Poetzelberger
Programmer: Helmut Bressler
3D Modeler: Max Loegler
Rigging and posing: Michael Buettner
Installation development and technical design: Jakob Illera / Inseq Design
Game Engine: Unigine
Installed at Okayama Art Summit as a 10m x 10m LED wall affxed to building.
Artistic Director, Pierre Huyghe
Held in Okayama City once every three years, the Okayama Art Summit is an international exhibition of contemporary art.With Pierre Huyghe taking the reins as artistic director, the Okayama Art Summit 2019 brings the artistic touch to various historical and cultural sites near Okayama Castle and Okayama Korakuen Garden for two months from 27 September to 24 November, 2019. Venues Former Uchisange Elementary School, Former Fukuoka Soy Sauce Factory, Tenjinyama Cultural Plaza of Okayama Prefecture, Okayama Orient Museum, Okayama Castle, Cinema Clair Marunouchi, Hayashibara Museum of Art, and more.
25 July 2017 – 07 Januray 2018
An exhibition on the impact of electricity on human life.
more information: www.teylersmuseum.nl
30 April – 25 June 2017
Evoking many historical precedents in painting, photography and video, Gerrard’s virtual worlds do not belong to familiar lens or time-based media. The medium of simulation has enabled the artist’s visual exploration of the monumentalism of land art in the age of Google Earth, the harnessing of dance choreography and athletic performance through motion-capture, and, in this instance, the conflation of 18th century scientific experimentation with modern-day technological advancements through the NASA space exploration program.
Installed at Wellcome Collection 2017 as a frameless rear projection.
Electricity: Curated by Lucy Shanahan and Ruth Garde, Wellcome Collection, with Consultant Curator and Exhibition Originator Paul Bonaventura.
art-agenda.com
McLean-Ferris, Laura: 'John Gerrard’s 'X. laevis (Spacelab)'', 21 June 2017
artnet.com
Boucher, Brian: 'Why a Simulation of a Frog Floating in Outer Space Points to a New Future for Contemporary Art', 14 July 2017
frieze.com
Anton, Saul: 'A Fresh Perspective', 21 August 2017
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