Uncanny Valley: Photography, Tech and the Hyperreal

The term Uncanny Valley refers to that sense of unease, wariness or revulsion that overcomes us when technology presents as too human, the resemblance becoming too close. The line between the digital and the physical is more and more fluid in our digital age, reality and simulation blurring together. As the matrix folds in around us, this exhibition presents six artists working at the forefront of this changing landscape.

Lauren Dunn’s pixelated pop icon figure appears shoulder to shoulder with Giulio di Sturco’s portaits of Sophia, the first robot to be granted citizenship of a nation. Utilising “promptography”, Boris Eldagsen indulges the power of nostalgia to construct false memories – sparking international debate on the distinction between photography and AI in the process.

John Yuyi invites questions over who controls our digital existence with faces pasted with temporary tattoos of popular apps and icons, and Serwah Attafuah’s cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands take us further into the metaverse, populated by afro-futuristic abstractions.

Meanwhile, Darren Sylvester depicts a prophetic face looking back towards us at an epic 10 metres tall, reflecting history repeating, and futures of tomorrow.