RECYCLE GROUP

Installations spread across two floors open a timely contemplation on the nature of human and AI relationships.Straddling the organic and online, a forest of expired links acts as a portal, where all things biotic are given theability to lead a virtual existence. Surrounding lightboxes generated by Artificial Intelligence are embeddedwith Google searches, based on key-words of the future governing order. Upstairs, full immersion into thevirtual world awaits; visitors can recline in armchairs surrounded by mesh figures set to accompany them ontheir virtual journey.

The ideals of a utopian republic permeate the space, brought about by the considered absence of any visualsymbols of power. Recycle Group had previously explored ideas of iconography in 2015’s Conversion, a satelliteevent for the 56th Venice Biennale where social media symbols replaced religious imagery. In Sapient, icons arereplaced by a neutral intelligence system, and life after death is achievable via the metaverse. A new world orderis delineated through the use of ‘0’, a universal sign of equality to the artists, acting as a ‘good-terminator’ andthe coordinates for the AI used throughout this exhibition.

Using the potentialities of the future, Recycle Group not only subvert ideas of contemporary religion andgovernment, but supplant them entirely.

‘If society was ruled by a humanistic AI directly subordinate to humans, then there would be no war. This ideaallowed us to imagine how society could develop and how the coexistence of man and machine could look.’ — Recycle Group

Formed by Andrey Blokhin (B. 1987) and Georgy Kuznetsov (B. 1985) in 2006, Recycle Group explores therealm of virtual reality using both recycled imagery and materials, their work aiming to bridge incompatiblesubjects such as the classical with the contemporary.

The artists currently live and work in Paris. Since 2010, works by the art group have been showcased on aregular basis in international galleries and various contemporary art spaces in France, Italy, UK, USA andBelgium. In 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017, the artists participated in the programme of La Biennale di Venezia.Recycle Group’s large-scale installation has been featured on international facades, from the Grand Palais tothe London School of Economics. Works by Recycle Group are in public collections, including Glasstress andthe National Museum of Scotland.