Melanie Gilligan’s dystopian drama is set in an eerily familiar future. Over 15 short
episodes it tracks the impact of an immersive technology that enables individuals to tap into the sensations of others. Worn on the roof of the mouth, ‘The Patch’ has reformulated not only social contact, but every aspect of human society. Will its invention lead to a more empathetic, collective future? Or will feelings be put to work in an intensified emotional economy?
Presented in Edinburgh College of Art’s West Court, this exhibition formed part of the 2018 Edinburgh Art Festival.
On 24 August we presented the ‘Artists and the Gig Economy’ event alongside the exhibition with the support of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network (see ‘Events’).
The Common Sense (2014/15) was the first acquisition made for the University of Edinburgh’s Contemporary Art Research Collection. Taking globalisation as its central theme, the collection analyses what the transformation of geographic, political, cultural and economic boundaries has meant in terms of artistic practice. In our first phase of activity this broad topic has been given an explicitly feminist inflection as we focus our attention on the scaffolding and shadows of the formal economy – those hidden dimensions of conventional production involving the maintenance, reproduction and socialisation of people.
Assistant Curator: Liv Laumenech
