John Gerrard

John Gerrard. Photo by Mark Glassner

John Gerrard was born in 1974 in North Tipperary, Ireland.
A key contemporary figure in the development of digital media, his works are simulations and virtual worlds deceptively looking like film or video. This works are made using real-time computer graphics, a technology developed by the military and now used extensively in the gaming industry.

At Palazzo Forcella De Seta, Gerrard presents Untitled (near Parndorf) Austria 2018, a video installation that creates a detailed virtual portrait of the wooded highway scene exactly as experienced by the artist on Saturday 29 August 2015, as well as of the remnants of a human tragedy that were left behind in that place.

Another work, Farm (Council Bluffs, Iowa), by John Gerrard is on view at Palazzo Ajutamicristo. Digital networks are perceived as completely abstract and ephemeral. But in reality the constantly growing flow of data needs huge data farms to be stored and processed. These farms occupy large surfaces in remote areas of the world and consume an enormous amount. Farm (Council Bluffs, Iowa) renders such a physical infrastructure visible.