Talk: Semiconductor

Event

IFFR 2023

For over 20 years, UK artist duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt, aka Semiconductor, have explored the human experience at the intersection between science and technology. Their innovative works confront us with the seemingly unknowable ephemerality of the natural world around us, contextualising scientific data into captivating sculpture, moving images and interactive experiences that encourage us to expand our perceptions of reality and question our role as observers.

Known for their meticulous research, Semiconductor utilises a different technological approach with each piece, often spending years in science laboratories around the world studying the devices used to make sense of the natural world. With their latest work Spectral Constellations, showing at IFFR 2023, a generative animation series commissioned during a residency with the Planet Disk Connection Group at the University of Dundee, they interpret spectral data, depicting the compositions of young stars as LED mosaics that undulate and glimmer in patterns, hinting at a human familiarity.

In this intimate discussion with Sanneke Huisman, the duo will discuss their unique work process and, of course, the role of science in their art: as a philosophy, as a metaphor, and as an imperfect means to question truth.

 

Fiona Armour

Event

IFFR 2023

Programme IFFR 2023

IFFR Talks

Get to the heart of cinema with this year’s IFFR Talks programme: a series of Talks in which the creative minds behind independent filmmaking from across the globe explore the art of filmmaking.

Read more about this programme