David Blandy: How to Live

1 Jun-30 Jun 2020

Overview

The second of David Blandy’s two new digital videos, How to Live (2020) will be shown throughout June as an online exhibition. These two newly commissioned works build on a series which uses the form of online video tutorials to explore ideas around patterns in nature and existence. Each of them begins with Blandy giving a step-by-step tutorial explaining how to make a short video about a specific subject, only using the tools available via a computer – through the internet and video editing software to video games. How to Live film begins as a tutorial on how to use Adobe After Effects techniques to bring static images to life. Blandy creates a journey through images around life force, exploring photosynthesis, the geological forces around the creation of oil and coal, and thinking about the future possibilities of human life. How to Live will be shown throughout June as an online exhibition, following How to Fly, that continues until 31 May. Through his diverse practice, David Blandy questions our relationship to the culture that surrounds us, reflecting on the imaginary spaces that form our identity. Delving deep into video game, genre fantasy and Internet culture, he is fascinated by each form’s potential for communality and finding new forms of kinship. These two new works show the audience How to Fly and How to Live, obliquely referencing our present moment, while also pointing to new potentials.