Frieze London with Katja Novitskova, Jenna Sutela

At Frieze London 2024, Temnikova & Kasela presents a duo booth by creative peers Jenna Sutela and Katja Novitskova. Both artists work with biological and computational systems to create work that interrogates positions and locations where the digital and the physical coincide.
Jenna Sutela presents 4 Hz and 40 Hz (2024), two head-shaped sculptures made from blown glass and programmable LEDs. These neuroactive artworks channel electromagnetic waves—vibrant forces that transcend flesh, bone, and spatial boundaries—into light programs reflecting the brain's delta (4 Hz) and gamma (40 Hz) wave frequencies. Designed to evoke states of deep sleep and heightened perception respectively, the sculptures embody a blend of scientific and esoteric exploration, connecting electric and light therapies to boundless forms of existence part and parcel of the wider environment. The series of sculptures originates in Sutela’s commission for Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement 2024 at CAC Genève.

Sutela also introduces Doors (2024), a new series of unique analog C-prints capturing strobe lights that flicker at varying frequencies. Along with 4 Hz and 40 Hz, the oval wall works are part of a cycle exploring the boundaries of perception and rhythms as a basis for consciousness. For instance, mu waves (8-13 Hz), associated with the brain’s idling state, represent a meditative space between thought and action. Sutela relates this state to ma, the Japanese concept of negative space, which provides presence through absence. Expanding upon linguist Bernhard Karlgren’s description of ma as “a door through the crevice of which moonshine peeps in,” the three works titled Door (open), Door (nested) and Door (cascading) open doors to psychedelic or hallucinatory spaces. Spaces of the mind’s eye as seen through the blinks of a shutter and composed in the darkroom.

Katja Novitskova engages in this dialogue with her video piece, Pattern of Activation (Gardens of the Galaxy), first showcased at the Model Earth exhibition in 2023 at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. The work was a part of her larger solo exhibition, Eyes of the World, at MGK Siegen, Germany, and is currently featured at the 15th Gwangju Biennale in 2024. This fast-paced slideshow consists of over 1,500 indexed screenshots from online citizen science platforms, covering diverse subjects such as wildlife, astronomical phenomena, and genetic mutations. By transforming these datasets into a poetic visual stream, Novitskova reveals a new kind of sublime amidst the deluge of machine-readable images, highlighting humanity's ongoing effort to capture nature through technology.

The video plays at a mechanical pace of 24 images per second, emulating algorithmic vision that is too rapid for the human eye to fully comprehend. This creates a hypnotic visual experience as viewers catch fleeting glimpses of the imagery. The work also references early cinematic experiments and animated gifs from the early Internet, bridging various moving image formats into a cohesive whole. Accompanying this video is Novitskova’s large-scale cut-out sculpture, Approximation (Hominae), derived from an automatic wildlife camera photograph of a family of gorillas. The glowing eyes of the gorillas reflect the camera's flash, establishing a ghostly connection between the viewer and the nonhuman other, while the minimalist approach of translating digital images into physical sculptures reflects the artist's foundational practice.

Additionally, Novitskova contributes a series of wall pieces titled Earthware, which explore the translation between digital and physical materials. Notably, the Earthware (Soft Approximation Suraka Silk Moth) works feature representations of Suraka Silk Moths, created by manually transferring images onto synthetic epoxy clay with UV ink. These pieces evoke a fresco-like quality, emphasizing the concept of biomimetic eyespots in nature. Another work, Earthware (eye of Hexanchus nakamurai), depicts the eye of the deep-sea Bigeyed sixgill shark, employing artificial means to approximate the unique light-reflecting qualities of its tapetum lucidum. Novitskova's exploration of the feedback loop between human and nonhuman subjects culminates in an attempt to recreate synthetic eyes that reflect both biological and technological versions, ultimately generating a creature-sculpture that gazes back at the viewer with a nonhuman perspective.

By showcasing Sutela’s and Novitskova’s thought-provoking works, Temnikova & Kasela offers a profound exploration of human consciousness, technology, and the natural world.