C1, Design District, Greenwich Peninsula

Weekday opening hours: 4pm- 9pm
Weekend opening hours: 1pm- 9pm

Private View: 26th Aug

This summer NOW Gallery is proud to present Routine, a new audio visual installation by London-based artist Ben Cullen Williams and self described “hard to place” multidisciplinary artist GAIKA, which explores the relationship between humans and the stark city systems in which we live.

Taking place in the newly opened Design District in Greenwich Peninsula from 22nd August – 3rd September, Routine will be presented in L-ISA, a groundbreaking spatial audio technology by L-Acoustics.

Routine asks: What are cities without people? How are people influenced by their environment, and vice versa? How can we make a humane system within cities in which we can exist sustainably? Humanity and the urban environment are innately interconnected, but there is conflict within that shared dependency: what is essential for the community can be dystopian to the individual.

Routine will place the viewer in a generative space that continually evolves as it explores these ideas. A multi-channel film – captured via drone, 8mm and digital, will juxtapose stark portraits of people in isolation against cluttered and uncompromising cityscapes. A custom built sound instrument will interact with the viewer as they move through the installation, activating a feedback loop that continuously adapts to people, feeding sounds generated in the space back into the environment, creating a score in real-time.

Working in partnership with audio-tech innovators L-Acoustics, Williams and GAIKA will bring the viewer inside the music in three-dimensional, ultra-high resolution sound through their L-ISA immersive technology, which creates hyperreal spatial audio.

Ben Cullen Williams says, “When we think about sustainability we are often drawn to images of green forests and natural environments. But this project discusses another core issue: what is our humane relationship with the built environments that we exist in, is it sustainable for humanity in the long run?”

GAIKA adds, “I’m city made, born and bred. I’m fascinated by the relationship we have with the built environment. The emotional dependency we have developed on these large inanimate objects and our trajectory through them.”

Jemima Burrill, NOW Gallery Curator says, “NOW Gallery promotes and collaborates with cutting edge performance and music. Our gallery has always been home to musicians creating a connection between fine art and performance, with GAIKA and Ben Cullen Williams this continues an exciting synergy. We are also part of  a new development with 14 000 homes for everyone. We are aware of the relationship between the hard buildings and the soft connection people have making their space a home. We are intrigued by how Routine will explore people’s relationship to their environment, how this is summed up in film and sound, creating a connection between humans and the urban cityscapes.”

Ben Cullen Williams and GAIKA first collaborated in 2021 on Williams’ 2021 London Design Biennale creation Cold Flux. Williams’ work has been shown internationally in renowned galleries and spaces such as the Musée d’arts de Nantes, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Sadler’s Wells, Piccadilly Lights and The Bolshoi Theatre. He has collaborated with Wayne McGregor, Marina Abramović, the polar explorer Robert Swan, Google Arts and Culture, and MIT. His projects have won and been listed for a number of awards including a D&AD Yellow Pencil, the RIBA award, and the Aesthetica Art Prize.

Emerging from the electronic music underground, GAIKA is a globally connected auteur who draws directly on his Afro-Caribbean heritage and his experience of navigating a variety of global metropolises. His politically charged views of urbanised living are expressed as artwork that combines large-scale spatial and architectural aspects with music and video performance. Ruminating on psychogeography, morality, tech and emotions, he builds escapist worlds which inspire people to delve deeper into the issues that he explores.