Entropy by Rhys Himsworth: A presentation of research

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar Director of Painting and Printmaking Rhys Himsworth presents his first solo exhibition in the Middle East. Funded by a VCUQatar Faculty Research Grant, ‘Entropy’ will be hosted at the Saffron Hall at VCUQatar from 3 to 24 April, 2012 with an opening reception on 3 April at 6:00 pm. The event is open to the public.

‘Entropy’ describes the loss of information. In information theory, it refers to the measure of uncertainty, which determines how close a system is to equilibrium or disorder. Working across a range of media, Himsworth mixes natural elements with the machine made to create hybrids that have a dialog between the new and the obsolete, the automated and the intuitive and the organic and systematic.

The show comprises six large installations, which span the length of VCUQatar’s Saffron Hall and evolve over the course of the exhibition. Included in the exhibition is ‘New Life’, a piece which utilizes a cardiograph, used to monitor heart activity, that has been re-programmed to monitor the activity of the Internet.

In one of Himsworth’s new works, ‘Entropy’, 100 LED display boards displayed in a six by five meter grid, connect links to navigate Wikipedia. Starting with the words ‘Industrial Revolution’, his software program displays hyper-links on digital screens and reads them aloud with a computer-generated voice. The show also comprises two works that display live birds, monitoring their movements using surveillance equipment and outputting these movements as organic drawings made by machines fabricated from discarded printing equipment.

Rhys Himsworth received his BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2003 and his MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art in 2009. He is currently Director of Painting and Printmaking at VCUQatar.

‘Entropy’ is hosted at the Saffron Hall at VCUQatar from 3 to 24 April, 2012 with an opening reception on 3 April at 6:00 pm. The event is open to the public.

Advertisement