201 Chrystie Street , New York , 10002

For her first exhibition at Lehmann Maupin’s 201 Chrystie Street gallery, Jennifer Steinkamp will present a new series of work entitled Daisy Bell. Here, in one of her most significant installations to date, the Los Angeles-based artist utilizes state-of-the-art equipment to wed her projections to the dramatic architecture of the gallery, dematerializing the space and creating an eerie environment. The title, Daisy Bell, refers to a particular moment in the history of science and culture: in 1962, Bell Labs used the IBM 704 to synthesize the popular 19th-century English song of the same … (read more)

For her first exhibition at Lehmann Maupin’s 201 Chrystie Street gallery, Jennifer Steinkamp will present a new series of work entitled Daisy Bell. Here, in one of her most significant installations to date, the Los Angeles-based artist utilizes state-of-the-art equipment to wed her projections to the dramatic architecture of the gallery, dematerializing the space and creating an eerie environment.

The title, Daisy Bell, refers to a particular moment in the history of science and culture: in 1962, Bell Labs used the IBM 704 to synthesize the popular 19th-century English song of the same name. The song was also used in the climactic scene of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey in which the supercomputer HAL 9000 begins to sing Daisy, Daisy as his consciousness is degraded.

Steinkamp’s Daisy Bell series is comprised of a variety of poisonous flowers that appear to cascade down the gallery walls. Much as Bell Lab’s Daisy Bell consisted of a human application reinterpreting nature, Steinkamp reprises the idea, and defines this new series of artwork by its relationship to human innovations.

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