IMT is proud to announce the return of Cyborg, last seen in the harrowing Quantum Loop season finale from 2020, with the launch of John Powell- Jones’s Cyberjunk: Quantum Crash at the gallery in October 2021!
Cyberjunk: Quantum Crash is an exhibition about forming a dialogue between the present and an imagined dystopian future in which the horror of capitalism and neoliberal ideology are presented as cyborgs, demons and maggots. Who is the mysterious Cyborg? Why are they in two places at the same time? The answers arrive in exhibitions at IMT Gallery, London, and Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, presenting Cyborg’s adventures outside of chronological order; the same characters, a cross-over storyline, two different timelines…
“Cyberjunk deals with themes of perception, power structures and personal reality in an ongoing study into how the warped Western view on progress and success acts to inform our perception of morality” says Powell-Jones. These ideas are explored through speculative fiction played out through video, performance and installation, taking inspiration from European folklore, body horror, survival horror and science fiction. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to explore the all-new Quantum Loop Playset with key Cyberjunk characters!
Cyberjunk: Quantum Crash at IMT Gallery from 8 October – 12 December 2021. Preview: Thursday 7 October 7 – 10pm. Cyberjunk from 17 October – 19 December 2021 at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.
INSTALLATION VIEW
Photo by Lindsay Friend
INSTALLATION VIEW
Photo by Silje Løvstad
Cyberjunk takes place on the planet Durt 1,000 years after the Quantum Crash: a botched experiment that saw the first humanoid quantum teleportation result in a disaster of apocalyptic scale.
This post-crash present is populated by Borgs: evolved residue of the humanoid teleporter, now known as Awl-The Original Walker. The Borgs inhabit a walled enclosure, the only liveable area left on Durt. They were brought here by Droer – The Carrier of the Maggot, the only entity who can survive outside the walls. Droer then left their settlement in order to protect the Borgs from any outside threat, long before first consciousness. This history is remembered by monument and artefact, the story of Awl and Droer passed from one Borg to the other, carrying out their daily duties making sure everything is as it should be, awaiting Droer’s return.
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2021)
Photo by Jules Lister
QUANTUM LOOP
A Sci-Fi series of episodes depicting the first ‘successful’ quantum teleportation of a human subject. A glitch that separates the subject’s consciousness and body onto different plains of reality, one outside its understanding of time and space the other trapped in an eternal loop of trying to achieve ‘ultimate progress’.
Quantum Loop was commissioned by IMT as part of THIS IS A NOT-ME, an online only exhibition made by a group of multimedia artists during the lockdown of 2020; curated by Mark Jackson and supported by the Arts Council England.
Eyes startled by a piercing bright light, as my body reverberates and struggles to adjust after the most recent quantum teleportation.
A passenger maggot crawls down and out of my left trouser leg onto the floor but remains close. Immobile, I scan my memory and it seems to be deteriorating, no origin springs to mind just an endless need for progress. Vision blurred, images start to appear in and out of focus… are they miniature versions of myself?
Ocular apparatuses are now stable and in my peripheral vision I sense a light source that cascades over my digital form. A narrative is splashed across the walls and envelopes my skin; I have been leaving a trail of fleshy digital data behind me… forms emerge from the detritus, a series of Borgs that worship me and guard a shrine dedicated to well me. I am a traveller… a simulacrum but I am flesh… and for some reason the Borgs and this dimension care a lot about me. Where to next…?
