Adam Fenton
1992, The Painting Department Malerskolen & The School of Sculpture Charlottenborg & Billedhuggerskolen Charlottenborg http://adamfenton.co.uk
The Ultimate Aesthetic Dance Floor of the Future 2.0, installation with found and handmade objects, performance. 2019
Adam Fenton, The Ultimate Aesthetic Dance Floor of the Future 2.0, 2019. Photo: David Stjernholm.
In the Ultimate Aesthetic of the Future, we see objects and images that exist superficially. Their aesthetic is based on a polished and slick facade, designed only to be flashy and attractive to the eye. Their purpose goes no further than this surface. They do not transport the viewer to a place where one can gain concrete meaning. Individual elements are familiar and recognisable, but their combined expression is confusing and defamiliarising.
Adam Fenton, The Ultimate Aesthetic Dance Floor of the Future 2.0, 2019. Photo: David Stjernholm.
Inhabitants of this dance floor are engineered to be stylish and sleek. They move and dance around the space in a way that we feel we understand. But their motions and actions never land on a certain mode of expression. The dance moves are in constant flux. The soundtrack is recognisable – a global pop song remixed with over the top climaxes, ebbs and flows of electronic synth.
Adam Fenton, The Ultimate Aesthetic Dance Floor of the Future 2.0, 2019. Photo: David Stjernholm.
In this installation we see fragments of an Ionic column, cast in plaster. A television set stands in the corner screening a seemingly never ending loop of a performer, dancing in a strange disco setting, with Greek and Roman plaster casts as a backdrop. A familiar image of a water drop hangs on the wall. This image could perhaps be a mass produced print bought cheaply online but in fact is a hyperrealistic oil on canvas painting produced by the artist.
Adam Fenton, Untitled, 2017. Oil on canvas, 100 x 70cm.
A plastic palm tree also decorates this quasi-waiting room, next to an inflatable banana and disco ball. All elements combined propose a new form of dance floor from an idealised other world.
For this installation, Adam Fenton has collaborated with dancer and choreographer, Rebecka Berchtold. Together they have choreographed a dance routine which is perfromed at specific times throughout the exhibition and together designed the ultimate aesthetic dance floor of the future.
