Philip K. Dick introduced the Voight-Kampff[i] Empathy Test to the environs of post-World War Terminus in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (the book behind Ridley Scott's Blade Runner). The show plays into the current revival of interest in Sci-Fi and fantasy - references and individual works hint at the narrative in both the movie and book.
Philip K. Dick introduced the Voight-Kampff[ii] Empathy Test to the environs of post-World War Terminus in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (the book behind Ridley Scott's Blade Runner). The test would measure involuntary responses in subjects (blushing, respiration, eye tension) to emotionally evocative questions to detect whether they were human or android. Curatorially, Catherine Ocholla has opted to explore the concept behind the test (real/fake; fantasy/fiction; empathy; violence or its potential, etc.) through a selection of works in various media that use visual cues that ‘normally' elicit certain kinds of reactions. From butterflies to bullets, seeming opposites masquerade and provoke new responses or narratives from the viewer, some expected and easily conveyed and some less so. The show plays into the current revival of interest in Sci-Fi and fantasy - references and individual works hint at the narrative in both the movie and book - tying in to long-held assumptions of art and science's influences on and association with civilization and high culture, and the representation of alternate realities in art (particularly how empathy, as suggested by visual cues, tie in with these influences or lie in their representation).
The show's centre piece (a collaborative installation) taps into how society has numbed us to the horrors around us to the degree that we have, to some extent, become indistinguishable from androids (based on aspects of the narrative in the actual book). Shani Nel's collages juxtapose seemingly incongruous visual elements to create a ‘mash up' of new hybrid forms and landscapes that speak of a new vision of contemporary life while placing the human in a new order of society (reminiscent of graphic novelists). Similarly, David Scadden's video game-inspired 'scapes show a nightmarish future world that seems just around the corner in which game play takes over from reality and offers a more comfortable life of fictional violence lived while the real violence of the world is held at bay.
Linda Stupart expects from her audience a more empathic response. In her words: ‘The work demands, initially, that its audience feel something. Then, becoming aware of the failure of romance, the violence of sex and the pathos of my own experience of relationships - these responses are questioned, undercutting then the pleasure and wonder of emotional excess'.
Justin Allart uses found imagery and objects combined with digital static and other devices taken from videography to completely reframe or re-render the familiar, creating works that virtually invert Rorschach's test. Interference (digital versus organic) and nihilistic angst are given treatment in the figurative nuances of Catherine Ocholla's paintings. The reframing device is also employed by Niklas Wittenberg, who presents beautiful drawing, reminiscent of scientific illustration, as well as highly abstract and whimsical constructions to recontextualize the worlds of science, fantasy and art and highlight how easily they can be transcended, even though the narratives that link them may be different for each viewer.
Andrew Lamprecht plays with the era of proto-science when he recreates an alchemical diagram using thousands of tiny portraits of the philosopher Nietzsche and juxtaposes this with the ‘Queen Mother', thus pointing out the strange coincidences that litter western history.
The combined effect is very much tongue-in-cheek, fresh and innovative, and will encourage the visitor to reminisce about their own excursions into Sci-Fi and the points of departure between our narratives and the narratives of the characters depicted by the artists and writers of fictionalized worlds.
Andrew Lamprecht
[1] Voight-Kampff was originally spelt ‘Voigt-Kampff' in Phillip K. Dick's novel. However in Blade Runner's script it was spelt ‘Voight-Kampff', which is how it has been commonly referred to since.
UCA GALLERY, 46 Lower Main Road, Observatory, Cape Town.
