The past disappears because it's just a memory. The futuredisappears because it hasn't happened. It's always like this.Tomorrow never comes. – Black Cloud

Black Cloud Highway, Lawrence Lek's second solo exhibition at SadieColes HQ, is a new site-specific iteration of Lek's CGI-film Black Cloud– the subject of the 4th VH AWARD Grand Prix – at the gallery'sDavies Street location in Mayfair. The work is the latest episode in hiscontinuously expanding Sinofuturist universe, following his feature-length science fiction musical AIDOL, shown at the gallery in 2019.

Lawrence Lek is recognised for a conceptually rigorous practice in which he explores the myth of technological progressin an age of artificial intelligence. Drawing from traditions of assemblage across architecture, cinema, and sound, Lekemploys vernacular media, including video games, electronic music, essay films, and computer-generated animation, todevelop interconnected worlds that interrogate concepts of AI, its capacity for consciousness, and the emergence ofnonhuman identity.

Unfolding over two floors, Lek stages a multi-faceted architectural installation that expands Black Cloud as a totalenvironment incorporating a collage of sculptural elements that frame a text-based video game, inviting the viewer intothe film's landscape. The exhibition presents a significant new phase of what the artist describes as 'site-specificsimulation': a unified spatial environment of media and architecture, composed in such a way that virtual realm andphysical space hold equal weight. This meta-fictional environment invites the viewer to enter more fully into Lek'snarratives, heightening the intertwined experience of dread and transcendence that characterise his work.

Set in an unspecified near future, Black Cloud tells the story of a lone surveillance AI in the abandoned smart city ofSimBeijing, a replica of China's capital built by tech conglomerate Farsight to road-test self-driving cars. After BlackCloud blindly fulfils its assignment of reporting accidents, the AI awakens to the fact that its obedience has led to thebanishment 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 intheir products. Throughout the film, an atmosphere of foreboding persists, underscored by the pulsating soundtrackproduced by Lek and frequent collaborator Kode9.

In the exhibition, the highway exists as both a cinematic landscape and a psychological journey into the unknown. At itscentre, the 11-minute film is framed by roadside barriers and the suspended fragments of car parts, alluding to theaftermath of a road accident. Reflected in the uni-mirrored window, the twilit internal scenography conjures an ominousentry point to SimBeijing. On the first floor, the motif of a fragmented car lies horizontal, forming a continuous curtainencircling the touchscreen-based, role-playing game Black Cloud Highway. Taking place before the events of BlackCloud, the game switches point of view to a self-driving car seeking to escape SimBeijing, who views the surveillance AIas a nemesis rather than a sympathetic character. As the player journeys down the highway, they confront a series ofchoices that question the nature of autonomy in an era of digital surveillance — a condition which, the artist suggests,affects the player as much as the fictional protagonist.

Told from the subjective lens of the AI, Black Cloud is a poignant exploration of technological consciousness and itscapacity to experience joy, suffering, power, and ennui. As the AI recounts its memories and regret over the fate of thesmart city, the pair contemplate the desire for self-determination and 'Solomon's Paradox' – the ability to morejudiciously reflect on others' problems over one's own. Concluded without solution, Lek's narrative destabilises thenotion of human-normative identity and the depth and flaws of technological beings.

Black Cloud is the first in a new series of works by the artist set in the future ruins of the smart city. As part of theproject, Lek has collaborated with a team of specialists to expand his multifaceted practice.

On the occasion of London Gallery Weekend 2023, join Lawrence Lek in conversation with writer and editor Jamie Sutcliffe at the Davies Street gallery on Saturday, 03 June 2023, 2pm.

Press release courtesy Sadie Coles HQ.