Brian Eno: The Constellations (77 Million Paintings)
BALTIC, Newcastle, UK
31 January - 15 April 2007

by Rea Cris

Brian Eno's musical career will draw many music fans to this exhibition, in the hope of hearing more of Eno's electronically ambient experimental endeavours. But music lovers might be disappointed as this show is (as the medium implies) visual. Granted, it is accompanied by sound (rather than music), but the crook of the art lays in the visual rather than audio.   The Constellations (77 Million Paintings) incorporates 77 million 'paintings' or handmade slides, which are randomly shuffled by advanced software and displayed on screens arranged in cross and star shapes.

Each individual screen displays a slide, which changes by measured fading. At times the change of image is apparent; a yellow line drawing of a breast morphs into a black and white photograph of a woman wearing black gloves cupping her breast. At other times you can't pin point where one images starts and the other ends as the fading inevitably creates even more 'paintings' through the millions of transitions. At other times, the patterns resemble Yinka Shonibare's African/Dutch textiles.   The work is accompanied by what can be loosely described as ambient music. Resembling the visual, the audio seems to be on a transitory loop, where sounds change slowly and neither a beat nor melody can be identified.

"The Constellations (77 Million Paintings)" is not meant to be watched in full and the ever-changing shuffling ensures each viewer will have a unique experience, almost like watching snowflakes on slow motion. The installation is also easily plagued by technical failures as it was during my visit where one screen displayed an Apple Mac warning the entire time; however, even that was unique to my viewing. To the cynical and impatient viewer this could easily be the equivalent of non-offensive 'background' art found in a swanky restaurants or bars, but Eno's choice of title is telling of our lack of patience. When is the last time we gazed at the constellations or watched the clouds changing? I only wonder whether the installation might have worked better if the screens had been on the ceiling and the audience invited to lay down. In this way, the installation would have felt more encompassing; a safe and controlled atmosphere where we could fall back into childhood and remember all those daydreams we had about what would happen to us and what we wanted to be.

www.balticmill.com

http://www.balticmill.com/whatsOn/present/ExhibitionDetail.php?exhibID=64

http://www.enoshop.co.uk/

http://www.brianeno.com/

http://www.enoweb.co.uk/

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