Live | Work
Reynir Hutber

Part 1: Online

arebyte is thrilled to announce the first of its series of gallery residencies in 2016 exploring the notion of ‘Legal Aesthetics’ with artist Reynir Hutber. During Hutber's residency, he will construct an installation of sculptural, video and performance elements which, when experienced together, seem to foreshadow an alternative architecture and function for the gallery space.  

Hutber will construct and install a number of bold linear beams which, when viewed from certain perspectives, evoke coherent architectural structures. Drawing on the stark lines of building plans, unrendered CGI objects and vector drawings, Hutber's installation will play on the illusions and fabrications commonly used in set building for camera. The separate minimal structures may suggest the fragmented outlines of a barren TV set or cold contemporary living space. The process of creating this space will be the subject of the residency.

A wall-mounted camera in the front of the gallery will survey and broadcast the gallery from a carefully calculated angle. At points during the residency period, viewers will be able to observe the installation remotely via a live stream embedded on the arebyte website - as well as visiting in person. Because the camera's output is fixed, it is prone to deceptions of scale, distance and depth as well as other forms of digital manipulation and editing. The streamed image will also be viewable within the gallery, so audience members can witness themselves as actors/intruders within an immersive but unfamiliar stage.

Like much of Hutber's work, the installation plays into contemporary and contradictory anxieties around surveillance and visibility: the fear of being watched and the desire to be seen. The installation addresses 'removal' in terms of mediation, alienation and (dis)illusion. Because the gallery and studios will ultimately be destroyed and relocated as part of a regeneration of the area, the title of the residency may take on an added poignancy.

Reynir Hutber is a London-based artist working across a range of mediums including live art, installation, sculpture and new media. A critical use of digital technology is often central to his practice, as is a desire to explore concerns around the authenticity and limitations of the document – particularly in relation to performance.  

Hutber has been engaged to develop and perform work across Europe, including events and exhibitions in Italy, Spain, Germany, Brussels and Sweden. In May 2010 he was awarded The Catlin Art Prize in London, UK, and in March 2013 he was nominated for Le Prix Cube in Paris. In 2014 he was awarded an artist's bursary for artists working in contemporary performance by ArtsAdmin and in 2015 he completed a residency at Chisenhale Art Place, London.