The Common Sense
www.thecommonsense.org
Melanie Gilligan: The Common Sense
The Common Sense, Phase 1
14 November 2014–25 January 2015
Casco – Office of Art, Design and Theory
Utrecht
www.cascoprojects.org
Also on view: The Otolith Group, In the Year of the Quiet Sun
The Common Sense, Phase 2A
13 December 2014–1 March 2015
De Hallen Haarlem
www.dehallenhaarlem.nl
Also on view: Up Close and Personal, group show
The Common Sense, Phase 2B
24 January–29 March 2015
de Appel arts centre
Amsterdam
www.deappel.nl
Also on view: Michael Dean
Casco – Office of Art, Design and Theory, de Appel arts centre, and De Hallen Haarlem collectively present The Common Sense, the largest project to date by New York-based artist Melanie Gilligan. The work takes the form of a sci-fi mini-series that unfolds across presentations in the three institutions. It was made possible by a unique collaboration between three leading Dutch art organizations to produce a single work by a single artist—the first partnership of its kind in the Netherlands.
Melanie Gilligan’s work deals with what is perhaps the crucial issue of our times, namely how technology and the economy instrumentalize everyday interactions and human relations. The Common Sense, an experimental narrative drama, tells the story of a speculative future technology, “The Patch,” a sort of prosthesis makes it possible to directly experience the physical sensations and feelings of another person. After a decade of transforming the conditions of work and social life, for the most part in accordance with economic demands, the technology’s networks suddenly fail causing massive disorientation. People withdraw into themselves, isolating themselves in their homes, since they no longer know how to communicate with one another in a meaningful way without the aid of the technology. When the system is again “online,” and The Patch is functioning again, the story splits into two separate parallel storylines. In one of the storylines, after the rupture society undergoes a normalization and The Patch continues as a part of daily life. In the second storyline, groups come together to try to form social movements to resist the exploitative elements of the technology. In this way Gilligan raises questions about our present relationship to technology (mobile telephones, iPads, etc.), which increasingly shapes our minds, our bodies, and the way we live and interact within a capitalist system.
Gilligan draws upon a feminist sci-fi tradition that includes the work of writers Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin in which sci-fi is used as a means for both critiquing a social order and proposing a different vision. The story is also influenced by recent social movements and riots across the world that respond to capitalism’s “permanent crisis.” Gilligan explores the complex relationship between the technological development as propelled by capitalist accumulation and how interpersonal relations and emotions are instrumentalized in this process. Nevertheless the artist leaves open the possibilities regarding the new conditions technological change can create.
The three institution collaboration is integral to the work with different episodes unfolding in each site. Casco will open with the initial episodes, with De Hallen Haarlem and de Appel arts centre each hosting one of the two alternative storylines. The exhibitions partially overlap in time, with Saturday 24 January, 2015, being the single day all three exhibitions are open simultaneously. For this day, a bus tour is scheduled, connecting all the locations, along with special events. Alongside The Common Sense there will be an extensive public program. For more information, please visit www.thecommonsense.org.
The Common Sense is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Charles Street Video, Fonds 21, Dommering Foundation, Galerie Max Mayer, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery University of Toronto, and LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto).
