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I remember my first close encounter with Ed Atkins’ practice. It was in New York City early 2013. His solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 had just opened. At exactly the same time his works were on view in group shows at the Artists Space and a few blocks away fromk there at the Team Gallery. Atkins appeared to me like a virus. Not only because of his ubiquity but also the overwhelming presence of the word “death” – being manifested in the pieces’ titles, disastrous atmosphere and the use of HD technology, considered by him deathlike, because of how it creates an image that prioritize its own representation.

Atkins’ phenomenon turned out to be something more than just a virus. Born in 1982, he is one of the most prominent artists of his generation. Not every thirty-three-year old dealing with art can pride oneself on numerous exhibitions in the most significant art spaces, to name a few: Palais de Tokyo in Paris, 55th Venice Biennale, Tate Modern in London or Kunst Werke in Berlin. And the proof for this is undeniably his latest exhibition Recent Ouija – first solo presentation in the Netherlands and straight off at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (curated by Beatrix Ruf and Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen).

“Once upon a time couple of people were alive and were friends of mine.” – says a long-haired, well- built young man, the main character of the film Warm Warm Warm Spring Mouths (2013). Projected in the first room of the lower level gallery on a huge cinema-like screen – it seems to be the pilot for the whole exhibition. With its abruptly cut images it introduces the omnipresent ambience of inconsolable loneliness of the computer generated imagery as well as the protean digital protagonist – who appears (sometimes slightly modified) in the rest of the videos. His figure, willingly or not, guides the viewer through the ten-room labyrinth and accompanies in the world of CGI misanthropic melancholy.

He leads us somewhere between virtual and real – “the real” that should be here understood in terms of reality of movies or computer games. Into the parallel universe that has been generated and it’s governed by its own rules and yet being aware of this – we still believe it. Indeed, Recent Ouija has cinematic ability to mesmerize the viewer. Although while we go to the movie theater to forget ourselves – the Atkins’ world on the contrary keep us constantly mindful.

The avatar’s rendered corporality and netting of his appearance is created on a canvas of Atkin’s face and mimicry, though its effect is more generic – he is here to represent an everyman. In some works (like e.g. Bastard or No-one is more work than me’ flexitime redux, 2014) the identity of the character is hidden, while in the others – especially in the video-triptych Ribbons (2014) – he is being revealed as Dave. Whether we call him like this or not he appears mostly as bold guy, with strong jaw and tattoos. Sometimes he curses and his look doesn’t differ much from the one of the fellows that are aimlessly bustling around the block of flats, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.

Despite this Dave is a very sensitive guy, thin-skinned, you can even tell. When he drinks he becomes sentimental and signs cheesy songs. His existence is symptomatic for living a life online: packed with alienation, depression and detachment. Dave was born with a game over fate written in his destiny. And he is aware of that. His digital existence is a toxic performance of loss, following his desperate journey towards the never fulfilled sublime. The game is over before it starts.

The show owes its title to the Ouija board. Placed for the centuries between the occultist instrument and a game, its idea is to serve to communicate with spirits of the dead through fragments of language. In a similar manner subtitles were edited and added to the videos. Through the scraps of phrases and rapid interruptions they break the customs of the reader. Here and there in the space, on the wall or a painting, are also placed the Plexiglas plates with laser-cut sentences. The viewer comes across them like planchette that moves about the Ouija board in order to spell out the message. “Life is utterly miserable because of you personally” – says one of them.

Writing this text I am sitting alone in front of my computer with a glass of wine, listening Randy Newman on a YouTube. Almost like Dave with his booze, only the cigarettes’ butts are missing and I am not drunk yet. I am thinking what if he never left the computer environment and existed only as online avatar communicating with me through my laptop – except appearing within the walls of the museum? Would he become a great drinking company for lonely people in front of their screens? In fact, every now and then, we are all Dave, looking desperately for our identities in the online world. And thus we need exhibitions like Recent Ouija to make us aware of ourselves.

Ed Atkins
Recent Ouija
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
21.2 t/m 31.5.2015

images courtesy Stedelijk Museum, photo’s by Gert Jan van Rooij