OFF THE CHARTS

JOSH CALLAGHAN, LUFTWERK, KEN LUM,
KRISTIN MCIVER, DAVID SCHAFER

JUNE 12, 2021

Royale Projects is pleased to announce Off the Charts featuring works by Josh Callaghan, Luftwerk, Ken Lum, Kristin McIver, and David Schafer that transform the visual representation of data and analytics into contemporary artworks.

The world in which we live in is almost entirely governed by algorithms. The volume of data being produced, gathered, analyzed, and stored has never been greater. Works included in this exhibition merge art and information making critical commentary of an increasingly networked age. Examining nature, human behavior, social structures, and political divide, Off the Charts demonstrates how we are affected by the collection of data and how we can affect it, reminding that we have the power to change the statistics. 

Callaghan’s Work Place Injury by Type and Apocalypto Ticket Sales by Week use industrial materials to create abstract sculptures that measure the repercussions of cultural and individual conduct. These forms read as an homage to minimalist object making until the titles reveal more personal meanings.

Visualizing the unnoticed workings of seedlings, their skillful helical motion to maximize exposure to light, Luftwerk’s Sway to the Sun: Motion No 1 retraces the path of a peppermint plant drawing a connection between the spaces we inhabit and floras daily dance in relation to the sun. This work is influenced by Charles Darwin’s findings that all plants move in a recurring spiral oscillation, which he termed “circumnutation. 

Inspired by the theme of the labyrinth within Chinese philosophy, Lum’s computer-generated mazes represent the journey of life, a seemingly random but purposeful path to one's destiny. Each work bears a telling indication of the route travelled. The Path from Sanity to Madness is a graphic two-toned work that leads viewers to find their way amongst the myriad of possibilities that present themselves throughout our lives. 

Filmed during the 2020 election week in Soho, NY, McIver’s Divided Line captures the surreal scene of storefronts boarding up in anticipation of protests, riots, and looting as Americans waited for the results for over a week. The film is composed using a simple algorithm and the live election data, specifically the probability of Biden winning, from September through November 3. 

Schafer’s Binary Complex is comprised of a sculpture, sound work, and prints of musical scores that structurally explore the idea of binaries using composition, color, sound, and data. The sculptural element consists of 12 bins with each color assigned a note based on the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin’s synesthetic theory of tone and color from 1909 (A-green, C-red, D-yellow, and F#- blue). Alternating the different color-note combinations from the 924 ways the two sets of bins can be arranged, Binary Complex Permutation: Alternating Score for Tonal Duet creates the digital form of the algorithmically generated analog sound playing throughout the space while Binary Complex Tonal Duet Score presents the musical notation that provides a score for musicians to perform using traditional instruments. Click here to read more on Binary Complex.