In the world of the virus we are the invaders.
With this premise in mind, multimedia artist Kon Dimopoulos brings into the Fisher Gallery an installation that says we are intruding on dangerous ground.
Bio safety Level 4, the title of the show, relates to the highest degree of laboratory containment for isolating and experimenting with microbiological organisms.
As light sensors detect and respond to our approach, the installation comes to life and we immediately understand that the visitor has an integral role in the work.
Dimopoulos has taken pieces of everyday ephemera, and constructed moral questions around it, replacing certainties with uncertainties.
Behind semi-transparent cloth sheeting, he has magnified the image of a virus cell structure, and enlarged it to the extent that it has itself changed into a shrine or place of worship. The viewing process thus takes on a ritualistic significance.
Within the enclosure, an assortment of manicured gorse is displayed in an extended circular and semi-circular configuration. The idea of secrecy, elapsed time and the consequence of the two are central to the work.
Ephemera
→ Konstantin Dimopoulos: Level 4, 1999, exhibition card
→ Konstantin Dimopoulos: Level 4, 1999, exhibition brochure