ALEXANDRA GILLIAMS



︎ Writing
  






︎ Curatorial



︎ Photography





ABOUT
    Alexandra Gilliams is a PhD candidate in Art History at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is also a writer and researcher who has assisted in developing cultural projects for galleries, museums, and publications for eight years.

   Her research revolves around contemporary artists who intertwine art, science, and technology from a critical perspective, with a particular focus on AI and its societal and political implications.
She is assisting curators with research for an upcoming exhibition about AI at the Jeu de Paume in Paris. Bylines include Spike Art Magazine, Do Not ResearchCLOT, XIBT, Art Observed, and ARTPIL.

   She is a founding member of the AI/Arts Observatory, a research association at the Sorbonne that was created by Antonio Somaini, theorist and professor of film, media, and visual culture.

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WRITING———EXHIBITION TEXTS






Johan Van Mullem, Untitled, 2021, Ink on canvas, 275 x 200 cm
Ataraxie
Johan Van Mullem


FR: Pour ce deuxième rendez-vous avec la galerie Loo & Lou, l’artiste belge Johan Van Mullem propose Ataraxie, une exposition qui confirme la place de l’introspection au coeur de son travail. Ses célèbres représentations abstraites de visages se transforment en une perspective du monde extérieur à travers des paysages. Les portraits anthropomorphes sélectionnés dans cette proposition agissent alors comme un catalyseur de cette transition où l'humain semble fusionner à la nature. Portraits et paysages éthérés naissent des profondeurs du monde silencieux et inconscient de l'artiste où sont stockées ses informations émotionnelles.

EN: For Johan Van Mullem's second exhibition Ataraxie at Loo & Lou Gallery, introspection remains at the heart of his work, however his famous, abstract depictions of faces transform into a perspective of the outside world through landscapes. The select anthropomorphic portraits in this exhibition act as a catalyst for this transition, where human appears to amalgamate with nature. These ethereal portraits and settings have come forward from the depths of a silent and unconscious world within Van Mullem, "where emotional information is stored."

Read more in French...
Read more in English...
FEB 2022

Loo & Lou Gallery
Paris, France





Exhibition view, Anna Nova Gallery
A Trace Left By The Future
Jonathan Monaghan

Exhibition Catalog text:

Within Jonathan Monaghan's largest solo exhibition to date, A Trace Left By The Future, a series of animations, wall decals, inkjet prints, and sculptures explore society's hunger for consumerism, our dependence on technology, and the rise of surveillance. Monaghan has created a new world: a dystopian, consumerist police state under the seductive guise of gilded ornamentation and decadent imagery.

Monaghan works across multiple mediums, including installation, sculpture, and print, with a common thread exploring the fragility of dependency placed on technology and consumerism. Using video game software and 3D printers, his playful, yet haunting pieces merge historical references with sci-fi, and morph contemporary anxieties into surreal, technological outcomes. In other words, the outcomes of a hyper-capitalist, technological society if it were to further develop and eventually succeed.

Full exhibition catalog text available upon request
APR 2020

Anna Nova Gallery
Saint Petersburg, Russia






Addie Wagenknecht. Image courtesy bitforms gallery
Semblance
Philippe Braquenier,
Dylan Cote & Pierre Lafanechère,
Evan Roth,
Addie Wagenknecht,
Leanne Wijnsma

Curated by Alexandra Gilliams

Glassbox
Paris, France

This is 2019. Recent studies show that the average person in most Western countries spends at least 24 hours a week on the internet. As time progresses, we are becoming more and more dependent on technology. Being recorded by CCTV cameras when we go out in public has become customary. As we are aware of being watched, we normalize our behavior. While we are in our private spaces, we think we are alone because we place trust in our devices, using the Internet without judgement or fear.

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Text by Alexandra Gilliams
& Flynn Howl
JUN 2019





Secrets (blue), Hanne Friis. Image courtesy Galerie Maria Wettergren.
Phases
Hanne Friis

Galerie Maria Wettergren  
Paris, France

Floating throughout the space, on the walls, and lying on the floor are Hanne Friis’ characteristically twisted and delicately condensed masses of silk, wool, denim and canvas. The sculptures have been carefully crafted by hand with repetitive movements that create variations in shape, texture, and color. Her method of draping loose fragments against the tightly stitched mass allows the body to breathe out of its restrained folds. From afar, the figures appear animated and as the tension of the stitching alternates, they naturally curve, exuding sensuality.

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MAY 2019