Calls to Action is a presentation of recent work by Andrew McWilliams. The show features the new installation Emergency Room, exploring connections between bodily health and global climate change. The presentation of this work coincides with a planned global wave of civil disobedience actions targeting the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects, known as Break Free 2016 on May 4-15, 2016.
Meet the artist: Friday May 13 2016 @ 7 pm
Open to the public on Saturday May 14 and Sunday May 15 from 4 – 7 pm
Emergency Room
Emergency Room is a room-sized media installation looking at the relationship between personal health and global climate change. Paradoxically, the scale of the climate crisis is such that it tends to drive inaction, at a time when mass action is urgently required to avoid catastrophe. This work compares the unfolding crisis to a hospital emergency room, in which data and information are used to immediately treat a patient with the highest possible sense of urgency.
Insulin
Insulin is a responsive data visualization reading a real-time feed of blood glucose values from a sensor worn on the artist’s body. The artist uses this data every day to treat his chronic Type 1 Diabetes. The visualizations explore the psychology associated with the numbers, with the efficacy of treatment leading to guilt, fear, or pride in daily decisions.
Existential
Existential is a 3D depth video exploring our relationship with our daily surroundings in built-up urban environments. Waves of human activity around us often lead to a sense of greater isolation. This work questions the way in which we respond to this paradox, consciously and unconsciously, as we navigate public space.
Bio
Andrew McWilliams is a British-born, New York-based artist and technologist, whose work explores how data, image and perception influence society. McWilliams has exhibited previously at Currents (New Mexico), Jaaga (India) and AlphaVille (London). He is a co- founder & director of Art-A-Hack, and director of Hardware Hack Lab and the ThoughtWorks Arts Residency.