Tyler Mallison »Untitled (Chair Constructions)«

Untitled (Chair Constructions), 2014

Chair Constructions is a project, investigating ‘reality’ and its various forms, initiated by Tyler Mallison at Autocenter Contemporary Art Berlin in 2014. The performative work documented on-site brings together chairs from the former GDR, jute hessian, and basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) contained in DSLR Autofocus technology.

The resulting augmented instantiations explore time, space and systematic reduction of complexity—reflecting Mallison’s on-going interest in the interface of materiality and digital systems. In particular, the increasingly secondary role humans play in perceiving visual content, when using digital technology.

Part of the series was shown at the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition (London, 2016). Continuing this line of inquiry, Mallison staged the site-specific intervention Built Constructions in Berlin in November 2016 at Plattenpalast: a structure assembled using remnants of the former Palace of the Republic.

Tyler Mallison

Through a combination of media, Tyler Mallison (*1975 US/UK, London) gives form to an ‘uncertain space’— characterised by traces of the ephemeral and actions that introduce the medium of time, body and movement. Across the work there is a marked emphasis on materiality, digital mediation and the expanded field of painting.

Recent selected exhibitions include <u: read me/? (solo) (Plattenpalast, Berlin, 2016), Museum of Capitalism (HMKV, Dortmund, 2016), Summer Exhibition (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016), Spring Exhibition (Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, 2016), Show What You Want Show II (Melkweg, Amsterdam, 2015), Fingers Crossed II (The Engine Room, Manchester, 2015); ArtWorks Open (Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, 2015), Shadow of My Former Self (solo) (Window Project Dalston, London, 2014-15)

Mallison gained his MA at Central Saint Martins (2005) and BA at Northwestern University in Chicago (1997). He is one of the selected 2016-17 UK Syllabus II artists, working in partnership with New Contemporaries; Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Spike Island, Bristol; S1 Artspace, Sheffield; Studio Voltaire, London.

Also read our story with Tyler Mallison in his studio.