As Above, So Below
Jessica Angel
InstallationDecember 12, 2013 - February 22, 2014
“The ‘Strange Loop’ phenomenon occurs whenever, by moving upwards (or downwards) through levels of some hierarchical system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started.”
-Douglas Hofstadter
“‘That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.’ Thus, whatever happens on any level of reality (physical, emotional, or mental) also happens on every other level.”
–The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
The solar system can easily be paralleled with the basic unit of matter, the atom. Operations of a colossal city are analogous to the miniature calculations of a computer. Phenomena of any system occur every instant, simultaneously, on small and large scales. In her latest work, artist Jessica Angel explores the duality between the vast and the minute, finding that the two opposites parallel eachother. The deeper into the minute one goes, the closer one gets to understanding the large and vice versa.
Angel has chosen two specific analogies to embody the idea of the minute and the vast as equivalents: 1) the relationship between the outer space and the digital information space and 2) the similarity between urban planning and computer integrated circuits. This dichotomy will play out in an immersive installation that inverts these two ideas (the “large” in a small scale and the “minute” in an outsized scale), thus emphasizing the concept of the strange loop and the cyclic patterns. The installation will also reference the micro world of computers in relation with outer space phenomena.
As Above, So Below will enable forms of collaboration among sciences, philosophy, music, art and sound design. Six sessions will be held during the exhibition period where guests will host lectures, performances and interventions around the ideas addressed in this project.
Follow the project progress here. // View the catalog here.
Special Events
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December 19, 2013 from 6-8 pm
Live Footage
Music Performance
January 16, 2014 from 6-8 pm
Nelson Ramon
Interactive and Technological Intervention
January 30, 2014 from 7-8 pm
Jaclyn Avidon: Does Infinity Have a Size?
Talk on Astronomy and Mathematics
February 15, 2014 from 4-6 pm
Soler
Performance Intervention
February 20, 2014 from 6-8 pm
Gilberto Castillo: Sounds Above/Vibrates Below
Sound Performance
About the Artist
Jessica Angel is an international artist living and working between Bogota and New York. Her recent and upcoming projects aim to foster cross-disciplinary initiatives. Angel was invited to represent Colombia as an artist-in-residence at the 2014 Vancouver Biennale. She has held solo exhibitions at Juan Salas Gallery (Bogota, 2012), The Museum of Modern Art (Bucaramanga, 2008), Salamanca University Cultural Center (Bogota, 2008), The Project Room of Los Andes University (Bogota, 2008) and at Casas Riegner Gallery (Bogota, 2006 and 2009). She was awarded the Teaching-Artist Residency at Cooper Union (NYC, 2012), the BRIC Media Arts Fellowship (Brooklyn, 2012), City Walls with the Brooklyn Arts Council (2010) and the BOFFO Artist in Residence (Brooklyn, 2009).
Image courtesy the artist.