John Goto — Sweet Augmentations — Dominique Fiat Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: November 10, 2012 → January 12, 2013

Goto shows two new biographical series; one concerning the composer and pianist Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton, the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz, and the other the eighteenth-century painter of Enlightenment subjects, Joseph Wright of Derby. The phenomenon of Augmented Reality (AR) is used to develop and extend both histories.

Jelly Roll Morton was a renowned phantasist, telling all manner of tall stories. Rather than take a censorial view as many critics have, Goto attempts a sympathetic reading, informed by psychoanalysis, of the possible meanings behind Morton’s eccentric yarns.

Joseph Wright was an innovative and rather embattled artist. By relating his works to contemporaneous porcelain figurines produced in his hometown of Derby, UK, Goto explores Wright’s complex personality and his unusual choice of subjects drawn from industry, science and modern literature.

Augmented Reality is a recently developed technological realm. Viewing the world through a smartphone and utilising a suitable app, information is overlaid on-screen that might include images, texts or sounds. This is triggered either by the location of the viewer or via image recognition.

Joseph Wright AR employs image recognition using the Layar app and pointing the smart-phone at one of the Wright paintings, which Goto has pre-programmed, the augmentation magically appears.

Like spectres, characters from Dreams of Jelly Roll inhabit the physical gallery space. Taking the Geo option in Layar and entering the search term House of Dreams opens up a panoply of strange characters from Morton’s past. Both AR experiences are available throughout Paris.

Eagerly awaited, this is John Goto’s second exhibition at Galerie Dominique Fiat after his successful Green and Pleasant Land in 2008. Goto began working with digital media in 1992, and in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Leach with AR since 2010. He has held solo London exhibitions at Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery and Photographers’ Gallery, and exhibited internationally throughout his career. He is currently Professor of Fine Art at the University of Derby.

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