Marianna SimnettGORGON
September 2023
Berlin
The artist’s first performance for the stage re-imagines the myth of the Gorgon in the age of machine learning
GORGON is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of the Gorgon in the form of a two-act play unfolding through sound, dance and light. In the myth, Athena invents the flute to mimic the anguished wails of the Gorgon sisters Stheno and Euryale after the killing of their sister Medusa. Artist Marianna Simnett transports this myth to a contemporary setting, following a girl’s infatuation with a monster. The artist’s most extensive live performance to date, GORGON uses artificial intelligence (AI) in inventive ways to explore mimicry and transformation.
Marianna Simnett
Marianna Simnett is a multidisciplinary visual artist living and working in Berlin. Simnett uses vivid and visceral means to explore the body as a site of transformation. Continually testing the boundaries of her subjects and mediums, Simnett imagines radical new worlds filled with untamed thoughts, strange tales and desires.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in solo exhibitions at venues including Société, Berlin (2022); Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2019); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich (2019); MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2018); The New Museum, New York (2018) and Zabludowicz Collection, London (2018). Selected group exhibitions include Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (2023); the 59th Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams (2022); Espressioni: The Epilogue, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2022); and Prize of the Böttcherstraße, Kunsthalle Bremen (2022).