Wikio - Top Blogs - Religion and belief

Saturday 7 April 2018

Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder interviewed

My latest interview for Artlyst is with Michael Takeo Magruder with whom I discuss the inspiration behind De/coding the Apocalypse his installation inspired by the Book of Revelation. In doing so, I particularly wanted to explore the way in which his ‘translation of digitally-aligned ideas and situations into visceral forms and accessible experiences allows us personally to engage with and reflect on his complex subjects in our own time and on our own terms’ and the way in which we can do so by following ‘the trajectory of his over-arching narrative as it picks up and weaves together threads drawn from a wide base of cultural theories, technologies and aesthetics’.

However, I began the interview with reference to the evocative and personal reflection Michael has offered for this exhibition:

‘I was a child of the Cold War era living in my nation’s capital surrounded by the incessant rhetoric and proxy wars of two ideologically opposed superpowers – all made real by the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. Even at that young age I was already fascinated with both technology and religion. Upon reading the Book of Revelation for the first time I wondered to myself if John the Seer wrote of things like locust hordes and falling stars because he could not understand, much less describe, swarms of apache helicopters and the sight of missiles raining from an evening sky.

Now, three decades later, I watch my daughter grow up in a very different world that is defined by data, networks and code. And in this age of such technological possibility and destructive potential, I can’t help but wonder what end times she imagines in her own quiet moments of personal reflection. Her fears (or hopes) about the final days that she might witness are certainly not the same as those from my youth. My dreams never materialised, but hers might. So I look to her and try to understand what is her Apocalypse.’

My other Artlyst articles and interviews are:
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Bob Dylan - Jokerman.

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