James Capper. Prototypes of Speculative Engineering

17.12.2021 - 09.05.2022

James Capper. Prototypes of Speculative Engineering

We are delighted to announce James Capper's forthcoming solo exhibition at The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania, Australia. MONA is the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere, housing ancient, modern and contemporary art from the David Walsh Collection.

Mechanical engineering, evolutionary science, and the long history of human technology harnessing biological innovation. Each plays a part in British artist James Capper’s work, honing what sculpture can be and do and exploring the relationship between art and ‘speculative engineering’. His work is a leap into the unknown, going beyond the established canons of engineering, in search of solutions to the urgent problems of our time such as a changing planet. ‘In these solutions you will find my sculpture,’ says Capper.

Inspired by the movement of insects and evolution of vertebrae in walking species, Capper uses his ability as a steel fabricator and mobile hydraulics engineer to make sculptures that walk across landscapes. Their hydraulic systems hum into action, animated by complex problem-solving strategies and an artist driven not just to create but to understand.

And now to Broken Hill, Australia’s longest running mining town, where Capper’s sculptures navigate the outback—which you’ll see projected on the gallery wall and feel in the dirt beneath your feet—in a film made in collaboration with Australian filmmaker Alexander George. Here is a landscape and community shaped by mineral extraction, confronting our chequered history of industrial innovation, and ultimately, the cost of progress and an uncertain future.

James draws inspiration from all over: from 450-million-year-old fossil footprints of creatures walking between freshwater pools in Western Australia, shedding light on how life transitioned out of the ocean and onto land; to Broken Hill’s cinematic terrain, from Mad Max to Wake in Fright; and even an ‘artificial cow’ that would carry food for an army on the move, built by Chinese commander Zhu Ge-Liang almost 1800 years ago. How exactly, we shall see at MONA, as Capper continues his exploration of mechanical and biological crossover.

Curated by Emma Pike and Jarrod Rawlins. The artist would like to thank the following individuals for making the project happen: Edward Campbell, Lisa and Allan Campbell, Hannah Barry Gallery, Albion Barn, Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, Tara Callaghan, Blake Griffiths Create NSW, Consolidated Mining & Civil, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Entropico, Emilie Sullivan and James Evans.