Double Opening: Chris Howlett & Peter Kozak

Technique Beyond Principle | Chris Howlett

“My most recent investigation, Technique Beyond Principal showcases an ongoing series of machinima works, New Media (2019) that remixes internet culture with pop culture magazine cover cum political screen-poster designs. New Media, focuses on the sinister side of technology’s impact on the body politic, and retreats back to the traditional world of political poster making. The work examines the potential for dissensual acts in the gallery via digital activism to explore questions such as: Can post-production techniques function like a martial art technique? Do they still have the potential to subvert dominant representations that exist to oppress us? And, can the hyper-masculine world of Anime and Martial arts combined with my post-production techniques combat toxic masculinity, dark web antics, white suprematism … in a battle royale to see who reigns supreme … Technique Beyond Principal.” – Chris Howlett

Chris Howlett, born in Kokopo, New Guinea, based in Brisbane, Australia; graduated from CalArts with an MFA in 2000. He has participated internationally at the XXI Triennial International Exhibition in Milan, GamerZ in Marseille, France, the Inter-Society of Electronic Arts in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, the Videoholica International Video Art Festival in Bulgaria, and the Los Angeles Freewaves Festival of Film, Video and New Media. His solo and collaborative works have also been exhibited locally at the Gallery of Modern Art, Institute of Modern Art, the QUT Art Museum, The Arc Biennial for Art & Design and interstate in Australia at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Hobart Art Gallery, Cairns Contemporary Art Space and Blindside Artist Run Space in Melbourne. His public art commissions include KICK OFF which was a curated screen-based program at the new Metricon Stadium Homeground of the Gold Coast Suns and Australia’s largest public art canvas the QUT billboard project. He has also been invited to Tumo – center for creative technologies in Armenia where he completed a series of Alternate Reality Games called ARGARMENIA. He is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy degree at QUT, where he recently exhibited New Statements (2019) at QUT The Block Gallery, in the Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane.

Friction Burn | Peter Kozak

‘Friction Burn’ uses video and sound to explore the messy intersection between health, motivation and capacity in relation to living with a chronic health condition. Drawing on personal experiences, the exhibition challenges some of the misconceptions and reductive narratives around living with a disability by approaching the experiences of risk-taking, navigating competing motivations and dealing with the possible consequences of going beyond one’s physical limits with sensitivity and respect to their complexity.

Peter Kozak is a video installation artist based in Meanjin (Brisbane). Focusing on objects and phenomena that are often overlooked, his works seek to use these materials to explore complex personal feelings about vulnerability, physical limitations and other aspects of living with a chronic health condition. Graduating from the Queensland College of Art with First Class Honours in 2017, Peter has exhibited extensively in Queensland at spaces such as Boxcopy (2018), Metro Arts (2017), Outer Space (2016) and The Walls Art Space (2016). Peter has also shown interstate at Sawtooth ARI (Launceston, 2019), Cool Change Contemporary (Perth, 2019), as part of HIDDEN (Sydney, 2019) and the Footscray Art Prize (Melbourne, 2017).

Image credit:

Chris Howlett, Ludic Signs (No. 11), 2016-19, ply, acrylic, gloss enamel with routered text, 406 x 510mm.

Peter Kozak, Friction Burns, 2019, HD digital video still.