Schematic: New Media Art from Canada is in all the major listings, and reviews are starting to pop up. Time Out London did a lukewarm review (with a positive comment), and Rhizome did a great and humourous review. When more reviews are spotted, they’ll be posted here.

Schematic: New Media Art from Canada opened on November 7, 2008 at SPACE. Thanks to everyone who attended the private view!

The exhibition is open until December 20, 2008. SPACE is located at 129-131 Mare Street, London, E8. SPACE is at The Triangle adjacent to London Fields Park, 5 minutes walk from Broadway Market.

Bus D6, 26, 48, 55, 106, 236, 277, 254, 388.
Underground The nearest station is Bethnal Green on the Central Line. Continue along Cambridge Heath Road, past the Museum of Childhood and on towards Mare Street (15 minute walk or 10 minutes by bus).
Overground Trains arrive directly from Liverpool Street to London Fields Station, a five minute walk to SPACE.

Opening hours are: Mon-Fri: 10 am - 5pm, Sat: 12 - 4 pm.

Admission is free.

Following the conclusion of the current exhibition at [ space ] media arts, a catalogue covering both Schematic exhibitions will be released. In the meantime, this short curatorial text by Michelle Kasprzak is being distributed at the gallery and here on the Schematic blog.

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Schematic: The Machine that Moves Us 

By Michelle Kasprzak

In 1738, Jacques de Vaucanson built what would become his most famous automaton, a duck consisting of over four hundred moving parts. The duck was able to flap its wings, drink water, “digest” food, and defecate. The duck delighted people who observed it and brought de Vaucanson the attention of some of the most important and wealthy people of his time. While it was remarkable for its technical ingenuity (it was said that de Vaucanson created the first flexible rubber pipe as part of its “intestines”), it was also amazing for its resemblance to a real duck. It was this very combination of technical ingenuity and resemblance that produced its capacity to entertain with actions that would be utterly banal when demonstrated by a real duck. Vaucanson’s duck is a very early version of the sort of work that would now sit comfortably on a spectrum with Disney Imagineers on one end, and new media artists on the other.  
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