My work reflects on the instability of images and on how dependent they are on their context, just like the threads of a weave are reliant on each other. Being partially unravelled, my textiles reveal the tender, collective forces that hold a fabric together. They are gossamer works, yet enduring. They respond to their surroundings by blending in and by bringing to light what is otherwise invisible, such as the softest of air currents.
With my practice, I confront the numbing effect of endless image scrolls. I collect images containing loss, such as fragmented or previously deleted images. When looking at images, I concentrate on what AI algorithms remain blind to, such as images’ histories or the associations they evoke. I work slowly, sifting through a vast image collection or pulling threads one by one from a piece of cloth.
Undoing is central to my practice, be that the pattern of a weave or the organisation of an archive. I undo in order to expose an underlying structure.
fabienne.hess (at) gmx.ch
Instagram: fabienne_hess
b. Switzerland, based in London
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The Algorithmic Pedestal, in collaboration with Oxford Internet Institute, J/M Gallery, London
I Need, Trust Me, Help Me, La Balsa Arte, Bogotá, Colombia
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Entre Nos, La Balsa Arte, Medellín, Colombia
Between Poles and Tides, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
Latent Surfaces, Like A Little Disaster, Polignano a Mare
TenderPixels.CorruptedFiles, Birch Contemporary, Toronto
Grand Magasin Deux, French Riviera, London
DAK’ART, Dakar Biennale for Contemporary Art, Dakar
Riff/t, Baltic Center of Contemporary Art, Newcastle upon Tyne
Open Day, Lugar a Dudas, Cali, Colombia
Excerpts from the Bastard Series, XVIIX.com, online
Jungkunst, Halle 52, Winterthur, Switzerland
We are Here, SPACE, London
Off Sight, British Film Institute, London
RCA Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London
Paradise, Salone Internzionale del Mobile, Milan
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LUX looking, mediated (touring programme); OUTPOST, Norwich and Objectif Vidéo, Nice, France
Artist Talk, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
Blackbox Festival, Seattle
Open Data Ecologies, Delfina Foundation, London
RIFF/T Closing, Baltic Center of Contemporary Art, Newcastle
Sturtevant Study Day, Serpentine Galleries, London
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Wallpaper, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Artnet News, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Surface Magazine, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Apollo Magazine, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Forbes, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
New Scientist, review The Algorithmic Pedestal
Common Editions, artist book Zebras, Blanks and Blobs
Limn Magazine, The Total Archive, portfolio feature, issue 6
The Independent, Young Female Artists are leading the Pack, review Hits and Misses
A–N (The Artists Information company), review Hits and Misses
Red Hook Journal, Everything is Moving, review Bastard Series
BOMB Magazine, Trust me, portfolio feature
The Modern Painter, review Replica Sentiments, September issue
AQNB, review Replica Sentiments
Dazed Digital, review Replica Sentiments
Wax Magazine, Things, Not Water, portfolio feature, issue 5
Wallpaper, The Graduate Directory, portfolio feature, January issue
Gestalten, Culture Identities, portfolio feature
Royal College of Art, Useless; New Writing in Art and Design, portfolio feature
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Collective Vomit, commissioned Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
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Burgauer Stiftung, Project Grant for artist book Dataset of Loss
UCL East, seed funding for knowledge exchange between researchers, artists and communities
Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, London College of Communication and Central Saint Martins.
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Image archives (Bastards): Spectrum IV; Twin; International Klein Blue; Olympia; Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III; Impression, Sunrise; Black Square.
This website has been built with the help of Daniel Rothschild using jekyll.