Exhibition Information:
January 25, 2019 - April 28, 2019
Opening Reception:
Friday, January 25, 2019, from 6 - 9 pm
Gallery Hours:
Sundays, 1 - 5 pm and by appointment (please email info@ess.org)
Music Video Release Dates:
February 24, March 24, & April 28
Inspired by both experimental band formats and futurism, “I Sing the Body Cybernetic” presents mannequins outfitted with wearable electronics that serve as instruments as well as augmentations. Over the course of the installation, one band per month will periodically activate the wearable electronics, performing sound pieces which are composed algorithmically using custom software. Using various creative coding techniques, screens in the background will play a combination of original lyrics and performative vignettes. At the end of each month, Blalock will make a guest appearance with the band via live streamed video. This virtual component marks the end of the work for that particular band, at which time the mannequins are re-configured, the augmentations are changed, and a new band representing a different genre is introduced for the month. Each of the three bands take aesthetic cues from variations on genres such as new wave, post hardcore, art rock, and experimental music.
About Lee Blalock:
Lee Blalock is a Chicago based artist and educator presenting alternative and hyphenated states of being through technology-mediated processes. Inspired by science fiction, futurism, and technology itself, the work is an exercise in body modification by way of amplified behavior or "change-of-state".
Blalock also works under the moniker of L[3]^2, whose most recent live work embraces noise and fissure as a natural state of being for bodies living in the information age. By superimposing custom module based "Instr/augment" systems (sy5z3ns) onto performers, L[3]^2 creates conditions for meditation in the form of generative and repetitive behavior in an experimental band format. Blalock is an Assistant Professor in the Art and Technology Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She holds an Master of Fine Arts from SAIC, and a Bachelor of Science from Spelman College.