Sunrise Corporation — Andrew Roberts

Excerpt from Brief History of the Sun, 2017. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 30fps; vinyl prints, bean bags and headphones. 4’10’’. Variable dimensions.

Brief History of the Sun, 2017. installation view at the San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California, 2017.

From the sensibility of the contemporary artist any human experience is susceptible to being transformed into a work of art. Therefore, an experience as vulgar as the exchange of goods is not exempt from being work material for an image producer. The work of Andrew Roberts has been articulated from a delicate field of action, which makes it possible to distinguish the exploitation implicit in the relations of production of a society founded on the commodification of all areas of human life. This aesthetic method could be called as a critique towards the political economy of the senses, and consists of a critical look at the operation of the capitalist system.

For his exhibition at CECUT (Centro Cultural Tijuana), artist Andrew Roberts presents a dystopian history of science fiction that starts from a postapocalyptic assumption. Sunrise Corporation is a company that sells sunrises; since in a not too distant future —mediated by screens, algorithms and super stars— sunrises will be privatized and the only way to see how the day starts will be through this company. The most basic and elementary visual entertainment of humanity will no longer be possible, unless you pay for it.

Art has been selling sunrises for years. It is important to remember that what we know as modern art begins symbolically with a sunrise, "Impression, Sunrise" (1872) by the impressionist painter Claude Monet. Monet's painting, if we see it with a capitalist lens, is a successful attempt to privatize a sunrise. One of the questions asked by Sunrise Corporation is, what is our relationship with landscape in a society historically founded on private property.

In Sunrise Corporation, Roberts parodies the friendly branding of contemporary capitalism —specifically that of socially responsible companies— in a stimulating installation that mimics the design of a corporate lobby. The perversity of the company is present in the banners, furniture and propaganda videos, as Sunrise Corporation promotes an exorbitant obscenity: the intellectual appropriation and privatization of the largest galactic waste —and which has been characterized as the reason for the most famous moments of human unproductivity— sunlight.

Text by Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba

Sunrise Corporation, Installation view at CECUT, Centro Cultural Tijuana, 2017.

The Complex (Alpha Version), 2017. Two-channel 4K digital animation, color, sound, 30fps; vinyl prints, bean bags and headphones. 5’44’’. Variable dimensions.

Excerpt from The Complex (Beta Version), 2018. Two-channel 4K digital animation, color, sound, 30fps. 5’.

The Complex (Beta Version), 2018. Installation view at Being Here With You / Estando aquí contigo, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, MCASD, San Diego, California, 2018.

Sunrise Corporation, Installation views at CECUT, Centro Cultural Tijuana, 2017.

How to Sell the Sun, 2017. Three-channel 4K digital animation, color, sound, 30fps. Loop.

Sunrise Corporation, Installation view at CECUT, Centro Cultural Tijuana, 2017.