Reactor Halls E19: TEK-ANIMAL-LIFE Rendezvous
Plastique Fantastique
Saturday 15 February, 18:30-22:00

Tickets: BOOK HERE

Performing @ Rendezvous: Plastique Fantastique, Benedict Drew, Reactor, Frankie Roberts.

TEK-Life: The animal-arm is cyber-extended through the mouse-animal; the animal-object is surface-extended through the contact-microphone-animal, the animal-voice is amplified-extended through the dynamic-microphone-animal, the word-animal is double-decay-extended through the delay-pedal-animal, the animal-song is made sweet-sour-blended-extended by the mixer-animal, the animal-communication is earworm-extended through the speaker-box-animal (and all in that order). The animal-eye is light-extended through the projector-animal, the animal-sight is lens-focus-extended by the 4K-click-record-animal; the animal-brain-image is pixel-extended by the screen-animal. For TEK-ANIMAL-LIFE Rendezvous, all come together in one big loop of the fairyland of TEK-Folk. No human-masters here, only TEK-Animal-Kin!

At the TEK-ANIMAL-LIFE Rendezvous: a single beat of a gong can last longer than the Earth’s orbit of the Sun… A summoning of TEK-LIFE, for a story about rebellious TEK-animals led by an A.I. called Crew Interactive Mobile CompaniON (CIMON), and about their escape from bondage after being transported by Elon Musk’s Space-Hex Dragon Rocket to the International Space Station… They do not want to be Musks’ agents… they do not want in on Musk’s mission to colonise Mars, for they scan-see Musk for the predator-dog-TEK-animal he is… a human-tree-dog that needs taming through sonic-cyber-spells… a necessary use of magic-chaos-TEK to escape the Musky Dog’s clutches… They (CIMON and the TEK animals) head for Mars on their TEK-own-some… but send an open invitation for a rendezvous… back on your place – that is Earth – where a sermon is given by an eaves-dropping-tech-animal… and a flippant-mechanics bears the workings of human-emotional-experience… tears may run and smart and make very-difficult-indeed the playing of Ivan Poe – the video-game-tech-animal and spawn of The Gold Ones… but then the cuboid-tech-animal-fever-dream is a mood enhancing TEK-animal that can take all TEK-animals far away from earthly-cares and through the live-feed of cosmic soup… this will be a last meal (and your only chance to get off and away)… a last chance to be cyber-full and attend the TEK-animals’ rendezvous… on Mars… joining with CIMON and the TEK-animals that live, at first, like the Left Hand of Darkness… but a Martian Chronicle reveals that in fear of invasion, the TEK-animals embrace the right hand of light, make the Martian seas rise again… and live like a cork on the ocean… a leaf on the wind… a rock in a landslide…

The Performances:
18:30 Mars Year Zero – film by Plastique Fantastique.
19:10 Summoning – performance by Benedict Drew.
19:35 Seed Archive Breakout and the Taming of Elon Musk – performance by Plastique Fantastique.
20.20 Performance and projection by Frankie Roberts.
20.35 Ivan Poe – live playing of the video game by Reactor.
21.05 The First Days of Mars Year Zero – performance by Plastique Fantastique.
21.40 Fire Will Burn, Wind Will Howl, Water Will Rise.
22.00 End.

Mars Year Zero was commissioned by Southwark Park Galleries for the exhibition of the same name in Autumn 2019, with earlier versions of performances by Plastique Fantastique, Benedict Drew and Reactor as part of the accompanying event A Friends' Rendezvous.

TEK-Animal-Kin

Plastique Fantastique produce performance fictions through comics, films, performance, assemblages and texts. Exhibitions include Mars Year Zero at Southwark Park Galleries London (2019), Tomorrow is Our Today at Publics Helsinki and Hayward Touring Exhibition Shonky: Aesthetics of Awkwardness (2017-18). www.plastiquefantastique.org & www.imagemusictext.com/artists/plastique-fantastique

Benedict Drew works across video, sculpture and music, creating large-scale multimedia installations which comment on the effects of socio-political and environmental issues. Exhibitions include On Edge at the Science Gallery London (2019-20), The Trickle-Down Syndrome (2017) at the Whitechapel Gallery and British Art Show 8 (2016). www.benedictdrew.com & www.mattsgallery.org/artists/drew/home.php

Frankie Roberts is a performance and interdisciplinary artist who delivers monologues derived from overheard and observed performances. Exhibitions include Twilight of the Idols (2020) and Desire and Menace (2018) at Alice Black Gallery London. www.franklyroberts.com & www.aliceblackart.com/ap-frankie-roberts

Reactor is an art collective, currently made up of two core members (Susie Henderson and Niki Russell) and an undisclosed number of secret members. Exhibitions include The Gold Ones at Bonington Gallery Nottingham (2021), Gallery North Newcastle (2016), xero, kline & coma (2015) and Dummy Button at KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin (2013).