Parallel Worlds: Chris Levine, Michael Takeo Magruder, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Elnara Nasirli, Recycle Group, Nye Thompson

The international artists brought together in this ambitious new show actively engage in thorny questions around what is natural and what is artificially constructed. Their projects prompt reflection on how humans impact on, and interact with, the ecological systems of the planet that support us.

The philosopher Timothy Morton has argued in books such as Ecology without Nature (2009) that the idea of a ‘nature’ set apart from the human realm is a fallacy. Instead, the concept of a biosphere – a complex interconnected system of which humans are inextricably part – is more useful. Morton, alongside many other scientists and thinkers have, over the last decade, proposed that we are entering a new phase in the history of the planet called the ‘Anthropocene’, a term which acknowledges that humans are the major cause of the earth’s transformation.

In light of the current precarious ecological situation, what does it mean to create alternative visions of the natural world using the latest digital technology, as seen in large scale artistic and commercial projects in recent years? Can these ‘parallel worlds’ draw urgent attention to what we may be losing forever, or do the projects themselves run the risk of being a form of escapism from the reality of a ravaged planet? Do they represent a call to action, or a seductive distraction that in themselves consume resources? 

Acknowledging these contradictions, the artists presenting work in Baku use a range of technological and conceptual processes to subtly and carefully consider human interconnection with the biosphere. Seeking to destabilise a fixed notion of past and future, their projects glitch the fabric of the ‘real world’ and open up new perspectives. These speculative spaces offer sensorial moments that allow us to reflect on the forces at play on a planetary and deep-time scale. And, optimistically, by shifting our perception in surprising and illuminating ways, the projects may well feed back into tangible attempts to tackle the climate emergency. 

London-based artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast invite viewers to experience sensory perception beyond the everyday using cutting-edge imaging and sonic techniques. In Baku they present works from a new body of work - Poetics of the Soil (2024) - which illuminates the poetic hidden kingdoms of life in the soil beneath our feet and highlights the incredibly rich biome supported by the Capinuri tree of the Amazon Rainforest.

Baku-based artist Elnara Nasirli shows sculptural work Breathe Like Me (2024), a repurposed tree trunk programmed by electronic plant signals to breathe through kirigami lungs. Nasirli will also present a large-scale new version of her Whispering Forest (2024) installation at Gazelli Art House Baku in collaboration with the Latvian Embassy on the occasion of COP29. This piece comprises once lifeless trees from Azerbaijan and Latvia that have been revived to emit soft whispers of resilience as visitors draw near.

Michael Takeo Magruder embarks on a reciprocal dialogue with AI in his Reconstructed Landscape{s} series (2023 - 2024). Fleeting personal experiences of locations captured in field recordings are subjected to editing processes – some controlled by the artist and others by machine learning systems – resulting in a meditation on micro and macro perceptions of specific places.

Mapping on an outer-planetary scale connects Nye Thompson’s two projects. In CU Soon (2023) she transmits postcards intended for satellites out into space, and decodes the satellites’ altered replies. Thompson’s INSULAE [Of the Island] (2019) subsumes the audience in a simulated ocean journey around the British sea borders, constructed entirely from imagery generated in Google Earth.

Chris Levine’s works explore the properties and mechanics of light using form, surface, and colour. His art is based on frequency and vibration. The large parabolic wall sculptures feature intense pink and orange UV dye, have acoustic lens properties, and aim to shift the perception of the spaces they occupy, creating a vibrational connection to the cosmos. Plato said, ‘Numbers are the purest form of thought’. By extension, geometry is an expression of that truth. Underpinning reality in the physical realm is a divine order of structure and numbers that nature and the cosmos adhere to. Levine’s Geometry of Truth (2021) printed works explore this aspect of physics. Based on the angles of light diffraction and refraction in quartz, they visually represent the behaviour of light and are burnt into the paper by laser—a single frequency of light.

Paris-based duo Recycle Group present works from their solo show Sapient at Gazelli Art House London in 2023, which speculated on an utopian future where AI could be harnessed for a more transparent and better-functioning government. Works include relief lightboxes that depict a gathering of people in bucolic glades, and in the figurative sculpture Portal (2023), made from Recycle Group’s trademark plastic mesh, visitors are encouraged to recline in a chair and imagine being transported on an virtual journey into the future. 

Environmental  concerns  represent  a  cornerstone  of  Gazelli  Art  House’s  programming.  The  gallery  places  significant emphasis on the transformative potential of art in fostering heightened public awareness regarding environmental  challenges.  Parallel  Worlds  builds  on  the  success  of  the  pop-up  exhibition  Jawhar,  presented  by  Gazelli  Art  House  in  November  2023  in  Alserkal  Avenue,  Dubai.  A  group  exhibition, it ranged from artworks crafted from recycled materials to the creation of quantum-inspired visuals and  augmented  environments,  exploring  themes  of  ecological  fragility  and  the  potential  of  technological  advancements in helping to rebalance a vulnerable planet.