Art Semiconducting fiction and FACT, Liverpool June 29, 2011 Between sci-fi and sci-fact, Semiconductor’s first UK solo show; our landscape through dystopian footage and abstact animation

FACT Liverpool will this weekend unearth a new show of work by Semiconductor, a duo who can be relied upon to satisfy our cravings for mystifying nature and our inclination to understand what we have not become specialists in. They travelled across the Galapagos Islands and mainland Ecuador and held various studies into natural phenomena, through observation of baffling technical processes for breaking things down, to film documentation of volcanoes emitting steam and smoke displayed in triptych film installations. They’ve also generated hypnotising animated films which are an abstract impression of natural matter in growth, the building of rock formations like jewels, set to the blustery sound of melting ice. Which is weirdly human and familiar, like an ultrasound and will likely be an enveloping experience. Semiconductor question why we find the most alien of earthly matter so addictive to dig into, dissect and categorise.

‘The natural world is inherently chaotic, yet we endeavour to understand it by seeking or imposing systems and order; creating something out of nothing, forming methods, patterns and processes to interpret and apply meaning to matter.’
Semiconductor

Exhibition at FACT Liverpool from 1 July – 11 September 2011

Jane Faram, Arts Editor