The Thousands

After Effect is billed by its curator, Japan-living art guy Olivier Krischer, as being an instance of and comprising practices that reflect “a complex, dynamic and ultra real ‘post-digital’ present – after, but not beyond the digital.” What this entails is: stuff you never knew you wanted to see but seems clever and awesome once you know it exists. A ‘record store’ full of painted and hand-lettered recreations of the artwork and lyrics of classic albums, and re-performed covers of them? Sure! Plants that are using soaked pages of manga comics as soil in order to grow throughout the show? Cool! A mechanical arm that you can shake hands with? Hey, buddy!

These pieces experiment with technology in experimental ways that are at once useful and wasteful, generative and redundant. They take skill and knowledge to create, but reflect a ‘mucking around’ kind of ethos reflecting (on) the extent to which we are programmed into innovation/obsolescence modes of engagement. You know how dull all those articles about “You are in love with your smartphone but it is making you a big dumb ADD jerk, maybe” are? Just go see After Effect instead.