Empathy Lab
Colin Martin
Highlanes Gallery
English
Edited by Aoife Ruane, Colin Martin
Essay by Tom Lordan
Hardcover
Edition of 300
65 pages
166 x 236 mm
ISBN 9780957294622
The title ‘Empathy Lab’ comes from a dedicated area in Facebook’s EU headquarters in Dublin, where employees can express empathy to various causes through the use of technology. This body of work explores what the artist identifies as a prosthetic relationship between humans and technology and uses the genre conventions of representational painting to probe the digital age.
(Source: https://highlanes.ie/exhibition/colin-martin-empathy-lab/)
About the Artist
Colin Martin’s current practice explores boundaries between the real and virtual worlds through both film and painting. His current project, Empathy Lab, is based on a dedicated area in Facebook headquarters where employees can express empathy through technology to various causes. This series of paintings explores a prosthetic relationship with technology. The practice makes reference to science fiction genres and imagined futures that have come to pass, such as a future-oriented culture that has become obsolete or reappraised. The works depict computer museums, analogue recording equipment, and modular electronic instruments. Some works depict pre-Internet sites of surveillance, such as the Berlin Stasi Museum, and the genesis of a boundless surveillance culture, where the politics of private and public space is fluid. The works explore spaces that blur boundaries between the real and virtual and where technology, culture, and politics have become synthesised. Current works depict research and development from technology companies such as Boston Dynamics, Facebook, and Tesla.
(Source: https://www.ncad.ie/directory/view/colin-martin)
About the Publisher
Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery opened its doors on October 4, 2006, and was the culmination of many years of planning to deliver a dedicated visual art space for the Irish north east region, of an international standard in terms of design, management, environmental control, and security.
https://highlanes.ie/about/
(Source: https://highlanes.ie/about/)
