JOHN GERRARD

Western Flag Live

A live stream of the flag can be experienced on All 4 at all4.com/westernflag. On Earth Day (22nd April) use your screen, tablet or phone to broadcast the artwork anywhere you choose, stream it in full screen or share it using #westernflag.

Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017 depicts the site of the 'Lucas Gusher' - the world's first major oil find - in Spindletop, Texas in 1901, now barren and exhausted. Gerrard has recreated the site as a digital simulation and placed at its centre a flagpole bearing a flag of perpetually-renewing pressurised black smoke. The computer generated Spindletop runs in exact parallel with the real site in Texas throughout the year: the sun rising at the appropriate times and the days getting longer and shorter according to the seasons. The simulation is non-durational (having no beginning or end) and is run live by software that is calculating each frame of the animation in real time as it is needed.  Commissioned by Channel 4 for broadcast April 22nd, Earth Day and presented in partnership with Somerset House. Live presentation at Somerset House, Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, WC2R 1LA London April 20th.  Supported by JJ Charitable Trust, Mark Leonard Trust, Ashden Trust and the Western Flag Supporters Circle

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 -- Behind the scenes

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017

X. laevis (Spacelab) 2017 is a newly commissioned simulation by Irish artist John Gerrard, which responds to Luigi Galvani’s 18th-century experiments in which he studied the effects of electricity on the amputated legs of dead frogs.

Wellcome’s collection contains all of Galvani’s laboratory equipment from those pioneering tests, alongside a first edition of De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries (Commentary on the effects of electricity on the motion of muscles) in which the scientist published his findings.

Flag (Thames) 2016 2016; Simulation; Dimensions variable

Flag (Thames), 2016 simulates a segment of the Thames River near the Palace of Westminster. It is an algorithmic representation. The river colours are digitally recreated, alongside buildings and trees on the riverbanks present as reflections. At the centre of the scene, a gasoline spill is simulated – accurately refracting the light to create a vivid prismatic field, endlessly shifting shape over time. The viewpoint circles this form while the work unfolds over a 365 day solar cycle of night and day. The soft undulation of the waves animates the scene, giving rise to the title of the work.

Flag (Hudson) 2015 2016; Simulation; Dimensions variable

Flag (Hudson), 2015 portrays a small section of the Hudson River near the Chelsea piers in Manhattan. It is an algorithmic representation. The river colours are digitally recreated, alongside buildings and trees on the riverbanks present as reflections. At the centre of the scene, a gasoline spill is simulated – accurately refracting the light to create a vivid prismatic field, endlessly shifting shape over time. The viewpoint circles this form while the work unfolds over a 365 day solar cycle of night and day. The soft undulation of the waves animates the scene, giving rise to the title of the work.

Farm (Pryor Creek, Oklahoma) 2015 at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing 2016
 9 June - 7 August, 2016 John Gerrard: Power. Play

‘Video Can No Longer Be Considered Experimental’ A TateShots just released about the work titled 'Sow Farm (near Libbey, Oklahoma) 2009'. Purchased by Tate with funds provided by The Ampersand Foundation in memory of Michael Stanley 2015.   http://www.tate.org.uk/... An excerpt on instagram is also here: https://www.instagram.com/...