Simon Denny Sees the Dark Side of Technology

Berlin-based New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s “hyperactive multimedia extravaganza” “The Innovator’s Dilemma” on now at New York’s MoMA PS1, takes down “irrational exuberance about technology and does it with sardonic verve,” New York Times reviewer Ken Johnson writes.

“Along the way, it indirectly damns the high-end art market’s own inflationary mania. If Denny doesn’t get to the bottom of what’s causing the sociopathology infecting both industries, his show is certainly a rousing conversation starter.

“Installed mainly in one large gallery, the show parodies a high-tech trade fair. At first it appears dauntingly crowded, noisy and complicated, with all kinds of hardware, promotional displays, wordy signs and nattering videos creating an oppressively confusing ambience. Reading of explanatory texts printed on plastic panels is required to understand what’s going on. A patient viewer, however, will soon discern that the whole breaks down into four distinct installations presented on knee-high carpeted platforms.

“To contemporary art followers, Denny’s strategies of satirical appropriation and parodic simulation might not appear particularly novel. Those who keep up with business journalism might find little of it especially newsworthy. Nevertheless, the combination of form and content makes for a persuasive protest against soulless capitalism.”

Denny is representing New Zealand at the 2015 Venice Biennale.

Original article by Ken Johnson, The New York Times, May 28, 2015.