Ian Cheng: Emissary in the Squat of Gods

Emissary in the Squat of Gods, 2015, is the first episode in a new series “emissaries” by Ian Chen (1984, Los Angeles), curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist at the  Fundación Fernando de Castro . The exhibition marks the launch of the Fundación Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid programme in the city.

Ian Cheng’s work explores human ability to mutate and relate to change. His live simulations, rife with familiar objects are programmed with basic properties, yet are free to influence each other without authorial control or end. Cheng sees his simulations as a kind of neurological gym in which art becomes a means to deliberately exercise the feelings of confusion, anxiety, and cognitive dissonance that accompany moments of change.

Emissary in the Squat of Gods is made up of a contrast between a simulation of an ancient community facing a geological threat; and a deterministic story of an emissary’s emerging consciousness. Each form threatens to destabilise and mutate the other.