Artlyst attended the Serpentine Sackler Gallery which is currently presenting the work of Simon Denny. The artist incorporates print, graphics, moving images and texts into sculptural installations. This exhibition is the first solo show of Denny’s work in London.
Image: Simon Denny, Products For Organising, installation detail, Serpentine Sackler, 2015. Photo: P A Black © Artlyst 2015.
The exhibition is titled Products for Organising, and is developed in response to the Serpentine Sackler Gallery. The exhibition features entirely new work, and divides the Gallery into two sections labelled Products for Emergent Organisations and Products for Formalised Organisations.
Image: Simon Denny, Products For Organising, installation detail, Serpentine Sackler, 2015. Photo: P A Black © Artlyst 2015.
On the left side of the Gallery the artist presents a series of vitrines within a scaffolding structure display information and materials mapping organisational logic used by today’s computer-hacker communities. The narrative that emerges through this installation presents a timeline of events selected from the history of hacking. This is illustrated through a combination of technological objects such as computers and everyday items including T-shirts and magazines.
Image: Simon Denny, Products For Organising, installation detail, Serpentine Sackler, 2015. Photo: P A Black © Artlyst 2015.
Denny creates a new series of artworks that use, as case studies, commercial tech companies such as Zappos and Apple, alongside the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – the British intelligence and security organisation.
Image: Simon Denny, Products For Organising, installation detail, Serpentine Sackler, 2015. Photo: P A Black © Artlyst 2015.
These works are inspired by the circular floor plans of the three organisations’ iconic headquarters, and shed light on the similar managerial models used within these structures. The exhibition makes visible the ways in which different models can result in equally effective organisational strategies, scrutinising their impact on daily life.
About the artist:
Simon Denny (born 1982 in Auckland, New Zealand) has risen to critical acclaim with his work New Management (2014) and most recently with the installation Secret Power (2015), New Zealand’s pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale. Denny is one of the leading figures of a generation of artists who employ content from the tech industry, the language of advertising and the aesthetics and ideologies of corporations or government bodies to scrutinise technology’s role in shaping global culture. With the precision of an investigative journalist, Denny’s complex and layered installations translate the often problematic histories and events associated with management and governance into visual form. His work challenges numerous themes which are rooted in modern society’s globalised cultures of technology, consumerism, organisation and the dissemination of information.
Photo: P A Black © Artlyst 2015.
Simon Denny: Products for Organising – Serpentine Sackler – until 14 February 2016.