Ed Atkins at MoMA PS1

The exhibition at MoMA PS1 is Ed Atkins‘s first solo show in the United States. It features a two-channel video and surround-sound installation, Us Dead Talk Love (2012), which focuses on a dialogue between two cadavers who reflect upon representation, immanence, and narcissism. Atkins describes the work as “a tragedy of love, intimacy, incoherence and eyelashes.” On view at the exhibition there is also a new single-channel work, Warm, Warm, Warm Spring Mouths (2013), which premiers at MoMA PS1.

Known for his high-definition videos that defy narrative conventions, Ed Atkins (British, b. 1982) works with filmic and text-based forms that are in technological transition. The artist considers HD technology deathlike because of its virtualized form, and he deploys the bodiless movie format to highlight the conflicting intimacies that contemporary mechanisms of cultural production represent and allow us to achieve. Unlike traditional films, which prioritize the image over the soundtrack, Atkins gives equal importance to what is seen and heard, playing visual conventions against those of sound composition and editing. Sudden transitions mark his work, drawing our attention to the artifice of contemporary “film” in its accelerating transition to new digital formats capable of remarkable kinds of simulation.

Organized by Peter Eleey, Curator at MoMA PS1, with Matthew Evans, Curatorial Assistant.