Gordon H. Brown Lecture 18: Anthony Byrt, 'Documenting the Fall: Decadence, Descent and Monsters in the Art of Simon Denny' | 2020

Published 2020 by Tāhuhu Kōrero Toi Art History, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
52 pages
210 x 170mm, softcover, with colour illustrations
Edited by Raymond Spiteri
ISSN: 1176-5887

In Documenting the Fall: Decadence, Descent and Monsters in the Art of Simon Denny, Anthony Byrt discusses how Simon Denny’s recent projects address the growing and pervasive impact of ‘surveillance capitalism’ on our lives. Byrt argues that Denny’s sculptural universe in Secret Power (2015), The Founder’s Paradox (2017), and Mine (2019) deploy monsters and the grotesque to create new visions of how digital technologies are reshaping the world around us. These projects hold a mirror to the way the internet and climate change are accelerating us towards the future with uncontrollable speed.

Anthony Byrt works as a writer and researcher at the design studio Alt Group and writes on contemporary art for leading national and international publications.