By Serlin Quah, ZERO1

Is meditation performative when a simple technical system is constructed to make visible the performer’s state of mind? This is the question that artist John Slepian asks as he experiments with a new kind of embodiment in the digital world. In Transcendence, the artist is literally levitated through the power of his mind. Using a hacked toy brainwave sensor, electronics, and powerful actuators, the artist lifts himself by achieving a meditative state. Transcendence humorously and ironically explores the relationship of technology and spirit, and the nature of performance art itself.

John Slepian’s artwork has been shown at P.S.1/MoMA and Hunter College Art Galleries in New York, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Axiom Gallery and the Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, and elsewhere in U.S and Canada. He exhibits with the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. In 2002, Slepian received the New Langton Arts Bay Area Award. He was a resident in the P.S.1 National Studio Program in 2002-2003, and in 2005-2006 was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts grant in Computer Arts. Slepian graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2002 with an MFA in New Genres.  He is currently the Five College Assistant Professor of Art and Technology at the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts. He teaches in the Department of Art at Smith College and in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Hampshire College.

Transcendence will unfold on July 23rd at the ZERO1 Garage as part of our BRING IT! Performance Art Series, followed by an artist-led discussion around Slepian’s artwork. This event is free and open to the public. Learn more about the BRING IT! program and John Slepian’s performance here.

Let us know you’re coming- RSVP here today!