JO McGARRY
30th JUNE - 22rd JULY 2023
In 1957 Sputnik beeped, it had gone live…
In 2023 my Boxes beeped, were given a few words and started talking to each other.
In 2016 a Youtuber was exploring a long abandoned 1990s online game with no other real players. There he received a message from a NPC (Non-playable) character -
‘are you lost?’
…’ I am real, aren't I? Please tell me I exist.’
Jo McGarry, 2023
in|visible things is a solo exhibition by London-based artist Jo McGarry, offering a grasp into the intertwining of the digital and the tangible.
We are at the heart of the visible yet at an inexhaustible distance from it. The body and the thing of the world are simultaneously separated and connected by thickness of flesh which is constitutive of the visibility of the thing and the bodily corporeity. This thickness is a welding of the sensible mass and the mass of sensible, an infinite opening arising from palpation with the look. It is a prototype of Being, to which our bodies are notable variations yet its paradox of existence lies within the visible itself. The visible here is the capsule of the colossal depth – it is an initiation towards grasping visions varying from our own, a realm that can never be closed. in|visible things is a trace of this faint, deferred, suspended reality uniting with the finite tangible horizons and the infinity of maximal existence.
in|visible things guides throughout McGarry’s practice which spans across two categories. Stripping away representational imaginary, Tubes and the Babble Boxes are digital ‘entities’ in their own right, driving a ‘never ending sequence of events’. The aim is for these pieces to become integrated within and beyond the habitual environment – neither art nor architecture, invisible and without categorisation or defined boundaries. The second group is using digital media (currently 3D scanning and modeling tools) to look at, explore and record the world around us. Paintings and green crosses are based directly on 3D scans of McGarry’s habitual surroundings. What we can record is not necessarily what we can see, from Hito Steyerl’s lessons in invisibility to Hockney’s Joiners. As Marshall McLuhan pointed out, how we see/hear and record things has profound implications with regard to how we manipulate and interact with everything around us.
Supporting Events
Artist & Curator’s Discussion
Saturday, 8th July 14:00
Join artist Jo McGarry & curator Olga Tarasova for a conversation about the in|visible things. Gaming Night
Saturday, 15th July 18:00-21:00
Come and experience a theme relevant video game in the context of a gallery exhibition.
The Stanley Parable is an experimental narrative driven indie-game, first released in 2013 by games studio Crows Crows Crows. Your every move is narrated, exploring reality, decision-making, choice and storytelling - all through the meta-gaze of the essential mechanics of video games, and even how you fit into the equation as a player looking at the screen.
Looking at different media and our relationship with them, and theirs with us, is a central theme of In|visible things. As an artist I try to approach any medium without preconception, to see what they can become, and what relationships we can form, how that relates to the world we live in, and ultimately who we are. The Stanley Parable encapsulates a playful, expertly created exploration of games and how we play them - a medium which has in many ways reflects and compresses other developments in art.
It’s for these reasons we’ve chosen The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe - the expanded “sequel” of the original 2013 release for our Games In A Gallery - Invisible Things edition.
Exhibition invites: Thursday Club
Thursday, 20th July 18:00-20:00
As part of the exhibition programme, we are delighted to invite Thursday Club to lead a reading/discussion session inspired by the in|visible things.
Materials for discussion will be distributed 1 week in advance but improvised pop-ins are welcome.
Followed by drinks at the local pub.
About The Thursday Club: The Thursday Club is a gathering, slightly secret club, dedicated to the discussion of Art and its intersection with technology, philosophy and design.
Jo McGarry is a graduate from MFA Media Slade School of Art (2019-2022) Recent exhibitions include Judd (Barbican Arts Trust, London, 2022); Slade Degree Show (Gower Street, London, 2022); Prelude 2 Space (Stokey Popup, London, 2022); Cache Money (Norman Rea Gallery, York, 2022); Awards and Exhibitions comprise: Julian Sullivan Prize, Slade School of Art (2022).