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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nInstallation view of ER1 2 3 4 at Christie Contemporary<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two stag heads, one orange and one grey, face off across an austere white room. Mounted like hunting trophies, they are 3D printed in a faceted, low-poly style indicative of an artificial or simulated reality.\u00a0They appear to have technical enhancements such as extra horns, parts that look like data connectors, as well as exposed mechanics or controls.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nStag I (left) and Stag II (right), both 3D printed sculpture<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the wall between these figures, is a series of works on paper displayed in acrylic blocks. These are frenetically sketched pen and ink drawings with some collaged elements and a few words of text. They are rendered in intertwisted, flowing lines drawn with a pen that rarely seems to lift from the paper.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nInstallation view (above) & (L-R) ER2, ER3, ER8 each collage and ink on paper<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To provide context, it’s important to understand that this exhibition, as well as Boigon’s other recent projects, are conceptually situated within a unifying fiction he refers to as the Interopera, a sprawling science fiction saga involving aliens, quantum entanglement, folding space-time and other esoteric concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could take the name Interopera to be an amalgam of a \u2018space opera\u2019, an elaborate science fiction narrative, and the word \u2018interoperable\u2019, which describes something that can work with many disparate systems. Interopera suggests a narrative structure that transgresses conventional boundaries between disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe Interopera Reader<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeking clarity, you might reach for the Interopera Reader<\/em> \u2013 a book on display and for sale at the gallery. It\u2019s a beautiful, tactile piece, an artwork in itself, with a unique binding and cover. The book contains a set of text \u2018excerpts\u2019 and a folio of drawings. Each short text begins with an elaborate illuminated gothic letter. Through the colourful interior of each drop-cap figure you can glimpse a small part of a drawing. The constricted view, a mere glimpse of a larger diagram, is analogous to the fragment of narrative that the excerpts provide. In your role as an archeologist, you\u2019ll have to fit the pieces together and fill in what\u2019s missing.<\/p>\n\n\n Excerpt Pages from the Interopera<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning to the work now that you have a bit more context, you surmise that the heads on the wall are characters in the Interopera narrative. They\u2019re a kind of hybrid life form caught in a state of entanglement, \u201ceverything and nothing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The drawings now take on new meaning as sketches of the events, creatures, and machines of the Interopera. Perhaps they are the snarled records produced by a firsthand witness. Are these knotted, dense entanglements of ink and hastily written words attempts at describing things beyond our current comprehension? Or are they the plans and design documents of alien minds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boigon\u2019s work draws heavily on the strange world of quantum mechanics. As scientific discoveries continue to unfold, the true nature of the universe is revealed to be more bizarre, and further from what our intuition tells us. The environment our human senses perceive is only a rough approximation of our surroundings. Our intuitive model of reality has served us well in our evolutionary past, but we must accept that it is incomplete and contingent. From a human perspective, the true nature of the universe contradicts our senses. It\u2019s not in our nature to understand this stuff. As the physicist Richard Feynman puts it \u201cIf you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don\u2019t understand quantum mechanics.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n