Black Cloud
Lawrence Lek
Sadie Coles HQ, London
- Title
- Black Cloud
- Gallery
- Sadie Coles HQ, London
- Year
- 2021
- Duration
- 10 min 50 s
- Format & Technical
HD video, stereo sound
- Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London.
Black Cloud forms the latest episode in Lek’s continuously expanding Sinofuturist universe, following his feature-length science fiction musical AIDOL 爱道 (2019).
Set in an unspecified near future, Black Cloud tells the story of a lone surveillance AI in the abandoned smart city of SimBeijing, a replica of China’s capital built by tech conglomerate Farsight to road-test self-driving cars. After Black Cloud blindly fulfils its assignment of reporting accidents, the AI awakens to the fact that its obedience has led to the banishment of all other AIs, leaving the metropolis deserted. Seeking solace and resolution to its unfulfilled aspirations, Black Cloud begins a dialogue with Guanyin — a self-help therapy program created by Farsight to alleviate suffering in their products.
Rendered from the subjective lens of AI, Black Cloud is a poignant exploration of technological consciousness and the capacity of nonhuman life to experience joy, suffering, and power.
Stills
Lawrence Lek
- Artist, Participant, Speaker
1982
Lawrence Lek studied at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, the Architectural Association, London, and The Cooper Union, New York, and recently graduated with a PhD from the Royal College of Art in London. Recent solo exhibitions include: Nepenthe (Summer Palace Ruins), QUAD, Derby (2022); Post-Sinofuturism, ZiWU the Bund, Shanghai (2022). Recent group shows, biennales and film festivals include: 5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi (2022); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2022); donaufestival, Krems (2021); IFFR International Film Festival Rotterdam (2020 and 2018); 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice (2021); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco | de Young Legion of Honor, San Francisco (2020). Lek has been recognised with the 2017 Jerwood/FVU Award and the 2015 Dazed Emerging Artist Award. In 2021 he was the recipient of both the 4th VH Award Grand Prix and the LACMA 2021 Art + Technology Lab Grant.
Related galleries
Sadie Coles HQ
- Address
- 62 Kingly Street, London, UK
- Website
- www.sadiecoles.com
Sadie Coles HQ is a London-based contemporary art gallery representing around fifty international artists. The gallery opened in 1997, with its inaugural exhibition of new paintings by American painter John Currin – presented in parallel with an offsite show by British artist Sarah Lucas, The Law, at St John Street. This pairing established the international breadth of the gallery’s programme, which it has since expanded upon over the past two decades. Since its inception, Sadie Coles HQ has operated from a variety of spaces; most recently mounting offsite shows in Los Angeles and Mayfair in 2020 with a significant new video installation by Martine Syms. In September 2013, Sadie Coles HQ opened its largest space at 62 Kingly Street in Soho, a second space at 1 Davies Street in Mayfair designed by 6a Architects in 2015, and in April 2021 a third space at 8 Bury Street in St James’s.