For this project the artist has recruited the help of a neural network – a type of machine learning algorithm – to explore the legacy of El Laboratorio de Formas; a proto-think tank established in the early sixties by a pioneering group of Galician artists. Trained using their writings, the algorithm will help Meana navigate the complex legacy of this former collective.

Together, artist and machine will reactivate the group’s production and research, mining their vast archive of local culture, that includes studies of ancient rock engravings, pagan ritual masks, and ceramic homewares. Using new technologies and rapid prototyping System Recovery seeks to bring contemporary ideas and new life to the work of El Laboratorio de Formas.

Fran Meana (Avilés, Asturias, ES. 1982) is an artist based in London. Recent exhibitions include Generaciones 2018, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES (2018), Tender Buttons, Salón, Madrid, ES (2017), Future Archaeologies, SCAN, London, UK and Laboral, Gijón, ES (both 2016), 1.000 Horsepower, Can Trinxet, Hospitalet, ES (2016), Labour, Motion and Machinery, TENT, Rotterdam, NL (2015), Machines for Hardrock, Avalanche, London, UK (2015) and Percussive Hunter, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, TR (2015).

The new body of work in the exhibition is the result of recent research periods at Tabakalera (San Sebastián) and kindly supported by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) through the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE). (Assembly Point press-release)